Cometfall
by BIG410
Summary: The Warrior, the Soldier, the Healer, the Prince, the Avatar. Five children of war will follow separate, yet interlocking paths to a single destiny as they go from the end to a new beginning and learn the terrible secret of Cometfall. a post-CoD finale
1. Chapter 1: Sokka, The Warrior

Cometfall: Prologue

The Day of Black Sun was not the success that the Avatar and his friends had hoped for. Despite the liberation of Ba Sing Se and the restoration of a now wiser Earth King to the throne, the Fire Nation was not defeated. With the aid of the earthbending Dai Li, the Fire Nation was able to withstand the assault of the Free Army of the Earth Kingdom long enough for the sun to shine again. The war had become a stalemate, dragging the conflict on long enough for the day that Sozen's Comet returns. The day known as Cometfall.

This is the story of the war's final days told from the perspectives of the five children. Children for whom fate has played a cruel trick on, children of war. Sokka, Toph, Katara, Zuko and Aang all have their own hopes and their own dreams, but they have their parts to play as well.

For when plans fail and hopes are crushed, destiny makes way for desperation. Cometfall is now.

Chapter 1: Sokka, the Warrior

**Cometfall**

_I shouldn't have left them out there_, the young man dressed in blue thought as he stalked down the torch lit corridors of the Fire Lord's palace. _Aang told me to go, so why does it feel like I've betrayed him? Both him and Katara, my own sister, I left her out there with Zuko and Azula. If anything happens to either them...no! I can't lose focus, she's counting on me. She's been their prisoner for months, and I know now that her faith in me has kept her going. I cannot fail again. _Sokka felt his anger rise, _I will not fail again!_

"SUKI!" his voice carrying down the cavernous hallways, "I'm coming for you, hang on!"

Sokka focused on his anger and not how worn out he felt. Since that fateful day on the icy waters of the South Pole, he has grown both stronger and more skilled; he had won the respect of his peers and most importantly, his father. But after a year on the run, a year of pain, and a year of sorrow he felt stretched to his limits, and ready to see it end.

Approaching the massive doors of the throne room, he flashed back to his failure with the doors of the Earth Kingdom palace and knew instantaneously that he was not going to make the same mistake again. With a strength born out of a year of struggle alongside the Avatar, and the power of a lifetime's anger with the Fire Nation flowing through him, Sokka kicked the doors wide open with a single blow and strode into the throne room.

The cavernous chamber was lined with massive support pillars on either side, each one over eight feet in diameter. The central pathway was padded with a fine red carpet emblazed by the black Fire Nation emblem every ten feet leading up to a bright glow on the far side of the room. The throne hall was designed to be intimidating, and Sokka couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his spine. Reaching for his machete, he felt the soft sealotter leather of the handle give a little under his grip reassuringly. He drew it slowly out of its scabbard, giving him the chance to focus on the distinctive sound, letting it sharpen his mind. Moving forward at a deliberate pace, he could start to feel the heat of the flames that encircled the throne, and though the haze he could make out three figures. Two stood in front of the throne's fires, a third seemed suspended in the air. A soft prayer barely escaped Sokka's lips, "Yue, watch over me…watch over us."

Sokka approached cautiously on the soft carpet runner, the whale bone machete held close to his face. Soon the backlit outlines of Azula's cohorts and their prisoner became clear. Suspended from the ceiling by a rope that stretched so far upwards that not even the bright light from the throne's flames could penetrate the darkness was the captured leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, Suki. Thick coils of rope around her torso held her arms fast to her body. Her face was pale, not from her unit's traditional markings, but from the ordeal that she had suffered since her defeat at the hands of Azula in the forest outside of Ba Sing Se.

Zuko had filled Sokka in as to Suki's situation when they had forged their uneasy alliance days before at the ruins of Roku's Avatar temple. Under the threat of her home island's destruction she had told Azula what she needed to know to impersonate the Kyoshi Warriors to the degree necessary to fool the off-guard Ba Sing Se defense forces and reach the Imperial Palace. While the other island warriors were freed after the liberation of the Earth Kingdom capitol, Azula had taken their leader home with her, knowing it would upset the Avatar's allies.

"Look who's left over for us, Ty. Your cute little fish boy." Mai's unnervingly blasé tone, always level despite any tragedy or horror that surrounded her, emanated from the shadowed figure on the right. Sokka eyed her with a cool distain. He never forgot that it was her who was willing to trade her own baby brother away for a temporary advantage. Those who would betray blood so easily couldn't be trusted, even wild animals protected their own. Even an insect that eats its young is just following its instincts. Mai should know better, she was more demon than human.

"I don't know so much anymore, Mai," came the giggly reply from Ty Lee, the impossibly fast master of precision, Chi-blocking strikes that could render the most gifted bender powerless or the strongest warrior paralyzed. Her fierce martial skills were hidden behind an incongruently bubbly persona. It was if everything she's done was part of some little kid's game, that no one was really getting hurt, that no one was dying. Sokka had no idea if she really understood what the Fire Nation had been doing the world for the past hundred years; if she was truly delusional as well as dangerous. "I mean really, if that," she pointed upwards at Suki with two fingers, always those two fingers, "_girl_ is his standard, I must be too pretty for him."

Sokka, standing just fifteen feet away now and pointing his weapon at Ty Lee, was in no mood for banter. Silly words wouldn't bring brave warriors like Bato back to life. Sokka was ready to finish this:

"I can see your heart.

It is as ugly as the dark.

No smile can hide it."

Ty let out an outraged gasp and like an oncoming storm, began to tumble towards Sokka, "Oh dear," Mai said evenly, "we're going to have to kill you now." Three needles appeared out of nowhere and arrived at Sokka seconds before Ty did. Deflecting them with a twist of his machete, Sokka had to immediately turn his attention to the attacks of Ty Lee, bending himself like his sister would a cup of water to avoid letting a single one of her two fingered blows make contact.

Sokka moved sideways across the throne room, being extra careful to keep Ty Lee between him and Mai. He wagered his life that despite her dark nature, Mai would not risk throwing one of her weapons if there was a chance that she could hit the enraged Ty Lee in the back.

Ty Lee's anger was getting the best of her, but she couldn't think about how that was affecting her fight, too much was on her mind already, "Sheisnotprettierthenme. I'mtheprettiest…exceptforAzulaofcourse, butsheismore_scary_pretty, I'mmore_cute_pretty, whichdoesn'tmeanthatIthinkI'mabetterkindofprettythenher…"

She had backed up the formally cute, now terminally ugly water tribe boy against one of the large wooden pillars that lined the throne room. She felt her rage and frustration build up as she chased him around and between them, failing to land a single blow while she dodged the measured swipes he made with that white and blue sword thingy of his that totally clashes with the whole room's décor.

The fight fell into a pattern, she would try to strike low, to disable his legs, and he'd back her off with a downward swipe. Then while she was crouched, one of Mai's darts would miss and impact the pillar. Mai was trying but her attacks were fewer and further between then usual when they fought together. She then would try for his body, she could throw off his equilibrium with one strike to his torso, but he would back up around the pillar every time. Finally after bounding between columns to get the right angle, she tried for his arms, paralyzing them would leave him defenseless, especially since that big white flying sheep thing wasn't around to save him this time, but again and again, he'd ward her off with another swing of his weapon. The fight was starting to drag and she wondered if he could keep up pace with her attacks.

Then she saw it, this time he over extended his swing and his right side was exposed. She had him. Like lightning, but not as fast as Azula's real lighting of course, she swung out and in with two of her fingers on her left and to strike a point under his right armpit that would leave that whole side of his body numb for hours. She sensed that he noticed what he had done as well, but it was too late, this fight was over right…

"OW!" She exclaimed as she felt the bones in both of her fingers break on contact with Sokka. Blinded by pain she dropped to one knee, clutching her hand to her chest, "what…owww…what happened."

Sokka reached into his tunic, unhooked a small object and pulled it out. He dropped it on the ground next to Ty Lee so she could see. It was a piece of metal, bent in the shape of Sokka's chest from his sternum back around to his right shoulder blade. A custom piece of armor made to defend one part of the body from one attack that could only come from one person. There was a slight dent that that person's now shattered fingers had caused.

"The greatest Earthbender in the world made that for me. She's blind, but she can still see the lies of your dark heart."

Ty Lee's pain went away instantly at that remark. She hopped to her feet and threw a wild, closed fist, punch with her right hand, intending to cave Sokka's face in. He dodged at the last moment and she felt her last good hand break against the throne room pillar. Sobbing over the pain, she dropped to her knees. Sokka's plan to use her vanity against her had worked.

Sokka grabbed her lengthy ponytail and pulled it straight up, forcing Ty's head down against the pillar. He drew his machete back and with one stab pinned her head against it by her hair. Leaving her to vainly try and pull free with two broken hands.

Sokka slowly crept back around the pillar towards the main hall, wary of Mai's location after losing track of her. His question was answered by a dart that whizzed past his face, drawing a line of blood across his right brow.

Ducking back to wipe the blood and sweat from his eyes, and chuckled for a moment as he realized that Mai hadn't moved from the same spot she started from. Sokka had crippled her so-called friend and it hadn't motivated Mai in the least. He moved forward in the shadows of the pillars, taunting Mai, and using the echoes of the cavernous hall as cover.

"You know even Bosco came to the aid of his friend when he was in danger," Sokka remembered for a moment the attack that Bosco absorbed with his body, trading his life for the King's. So much death, he thought, for what? "But not you, Mai, what kind of friend are you?"

Sokka didn't hope for an answer, just maybe a moment of contemplation from Mai as he dashed perpendicularly across the throne room. It has worked; Mai was a moment behind Sokka with a torrent of sharp knives clanking harmlessly in the expanse of the throne room. As he reached the throne room's long red runner Sokka drew his boomerang and with its sharp edge cut across it while dive rolling over it. Sokka left the cut carpet behind as he continued to out run Mai's attacks. Reaching the other side, Sokka took two steps straight up the opposing pillar and flipped back to the center of the room, a line of needles marking his path. He had learned this move by watching Aang, Sokka couldn't go as high or as far as the Avatar could, but he did go far enough. Now back at the cut, Sokka pulled it up in front of him, allowing it to absorb six more darts before pulling it backwards with all of his strength.

Mai felt her arms burn with fatigue, the spring loaded dart launchers around her wrists and ankles were now empty and she was forced to attack manually. Mai felt exasperated at her inability to connect against this Water Tribe fool, whom she had nearly killed so many times before now. Then in a flash, she was on her back, the rug pulled out from under her. Disorientated, she was then shocked to be smothered when the carpet was folded on top of her lengthwise. Composing herself in the red cocoon, she drew her longest knife, cut herself an escape route, and rolled out of the carpet just as the fool connected with her prior location with a white club which incongruently had a blue stone implanted into it.

Sokka felt the vibrating sting from his missed attack travel from the ground, up his war club and though his arms, and thought about Toph for a flash before cursing himself for missing. Mai had rolled free and stood now just four feet away, holding a knife. She flung it at him with a speed that seemed impossible from such as casual looking motion and it took a larger slice from Sokka's right arm than he would've wished.

He clutched the wound with his left hand and was relieved to find that he had not dropped his weapon. His eyes never left Mai's and was not surprised to see a small smirk appear on her face. Sokka needed to buy time to catch his breath and recover.

"I'm not sure why you smiling. I still have my club, while you become more and more defenseless with every toss."

Mai's smirk grew larger; it never became a smile, it just seemed to twist upwards inhumanly, like a vine growing slowly across her face. She reached to her waist, and Sokka strained to raise his weapon in defense. Mai instead undid the knot of her robe and swung it off of her body with a toss that belied the robe's fluid nature. It fell across the throne's ring of white flame, burning instantaneously.

Mai was far from being unarmed. Underneath that flowing robe lay a web of metal, as if a spider had laid its trap across her whole body. Over a form fitting undergarment, hundreds of small knives, needles and darts were wired to every inch of her.

"That explains the posture." Sokka cracked to cover his nervous astonishment.

"Nobody alive has seen me like this," she replied in fey embarrassment, "in a few moments that will be true again."

Sokka, knowing now that he can't dodge her attacks forever, took a quick step forward to close the distance, covering his face and neck with his outstretched club. He took three needles in his left thigh before he could engage Mai at close range. She drew three short blades with each hand and held them between each of her fingers, creating punch as deadly as Ty Lee's.

Sokka parried two quick swipes from Mai with his club and was startled to see Mai hunched down, fighting like a clawed animal. Gone was the pretence of aloofness. She was displaying a degree of hand to hand skill that was unnecessary for her to show before now. Another swipe narrowly missed disemboweling Sokka, but cost his tunic dearly. Three long cuts appeared horizontally in the fabric across his waist.

"I can fix that myself now, let me borrow a needle," Sokka riffed.

Unamused, Mai jabbed forward and Sokka caught her right arm with his left hand, and twisted it up behind her back casing her to drop her finger blades. She flung her left hand up and loosed its knives from between her fingers and over her right shoulder, narrowly missing Sokka's face as he released his grapple to save his life.

Sokka attempted to connect with his club, but with his injury the attack had no real speed, and Mai was able to get underneath it and use Sokka's momentum to fling him on to his back, where he landed with a breath stealing thud. She leapt on top of him, a long needle in her grasp and thrust it downward, intending to impale his face. Sokka caught her just in time, bracing the attack with his club. After a few tense moments of straining, he managed to get his foot up to her waist and kick her off of him. She tumbled back, with Sokka's club in her hands.

They both came to their feet, exhausted. Mai looked at her captured prize and with a smirk, broke it over her knee and tossed the pieces aside.

"Sorry about that," She said insincerely, gasping between words nearly exhausted, "I guess I have a habit of…breaking…the things you love."

Sokka slowly let his injured arm creep up behind him.

Mai continued, "She was tough…I'll give her that, but she's not…Fire Nation. She should have let…her village burn; she should have let…her friends die before she betrayed her country."

Sokka was almost at his destination. "I've seen the way you treat you own family, your own friends. Just like your weapons, you discard them once you've used them." With that Sokka flung his last defense, his boomerang, out at Mai, who turned her head to dodge it, confident in herself and her skills.

Sokka took a quick step and was upon her immediately, grabbing her head with his hands, "While I love my family, and my friends, and I will always come for them."

There was a hard thudding sound as Sokka's boomerang connected with the back of Mai's head, knocking her unconscious, "And they always come back to me."

Sokka, now holding up Mai by her head, unceremoniously dropped her across the folded carpet, and with a kick, rolled her up in it, "That club was my father's," he finished.

Picking up his boomerang again, he positioned himself just right and hurled it up to the ceiling, cutting the rope holding Suki. She dropped into his arms and despite his injuries and fatigue, she felt as light as a feather. After catching his weapon, he gently helped her stand as he untied the last of the rope holding her.

"Are you alright?" A dumb thing to say, knowing what she must of gone though these past few months. He brushed some sweat-stuck hair off of her forehead.

She collapsed into him, hugging his chest. "I'm…better now." He held her for a moment. A long moment.

Leaning on each other, they started to make their way back out of the throne room when a blood curdling scream echoed though the room. Out of nowhere Ty Lee emerged, her hands swollen red spheres, and her hair hacked off against the edge of Sokka's machete.

She charged the weak and wounded pair leaping up to deliver a flying kick. Sokka instinctively pushed Suki behind him, but she was never one to be taken care of. She snaked back around and ahead of Sokka, grabbed Ty Lee's foot and used the momentum to fling her away and into the throne fire.

Ty Lee's hair disintegrated and her face was scorched by just passing through the white flames. She grabbed at her burned face with her broken hands and screamed off into the darkness, helpless to find respite from the pain.

Suki held her warrior pose for as long as she could before dropping to one knee. Sokka helped her back up.

"I remember that move," he reminisced warmly.

"What about this one?" Suki leaned in and their shared their first kiss since their parting in the shadow of Ba Sing Se.

When they separated, Sokka smiled goofily before regaining his composure, "Let's get out of here," he said, looking back at the Fire Lord's empty throne. "This isn't over yet."

BR 

Next: Go back three weeks to fill in the gaps and hit the beach with _Toph, the Soldier_. Then learn more about the lost time as _Katara, the Healer_ faces pain, doubt and Azula.

Go back further and see how the other half spent the summer with _Zuko, the Prince_.

In the final chapter, see it all come together in _Aang, the Avatar._

_ BR _

_(Author's note: Suki's horrifying ordeal can be found in the anthology collection "Tales of Cometfall" elsewhere on this site, please note that it contains slight spoilers for chapter four of this story and is not recommended for young readers)_


	2. Chapter 2: Toph, The Soldier

Chapter 2: Toph, the Soldier

**Cometfall**

The young Major stood in front on the deck of the landing craft. This officer would not be back in the relative safety of the flagship, directing the battle from afar. She was the feet-on-the-ground type. The Earth King's commissioning of Toph Bei Fong's to lead the new Royal Army of the Earth Kingdom was met with only token resistance. Toph's performance in battle on the Day of the Black Sun had forever silenced any criticism of the twelve year old's abilities. She had since overseen then last two versions of the plan for the invasion of the Fire Nation, taking it from original form: a seemingly easy victory over a powerless enemy, to its second: a desperate surprise attack, to its current form: a distraction. Soon the black volcanic sands of Inxon Beach would be turned upside down. Major Bei Fong spit over the side of the boat in anticipation.

**Three Weeks Earlier.**

Rendered powerless by a solar eclipse, the occupying Fire Nation forces were driven out of every major city in the Earth Kingdom in a rout. However the rag-tag Free Army of the Earth Kingdom was unable to muster the resources to fulfill the original plan for the invasion of the Fire Nation. A sizeable force, protected from the Free Army by the treasonous Dai Li, remained on the continent.

The celebration triggered by the capitol city's liberation lasted three days, not that Aang and his cohorts had much to celebrate. Their best chance to end the war in one quick stroke had forever passed, and in three weeks the return of Sozen's Comet would likely make this victory short lived.

The Earth King, who had displayed a bravery and a knack for true leadership that his soft upbringing would belie, took back his throne room personally. Despite the fact that it was empty, those with him at that moment would have no doubt that he would have taken down the Fire Lord himself had he been there. It was soon discovered that Azula, Zuko, Ty Lee, Mai and a select few others had fled back to the Fire Nation well in advance of the Day of the Black Sun, anticipating defeat. The city was overcome with joy, save for the unfortunate few who knew what the comet's arrival would bring with it.

Toph Bei Fong was annoyed. Not with having to be in the big city again, she was actually enjoying using her power to help repair the damage the battle has caused. She was annoyed by her new entourage. Word had gotten out that there was not only an heiress to the Bei Fong fortune, but that she was a 12 year old blind girl. Not only was she a 12 year old blind girl, but an incredibly powerful self-taught Earthbender. Not only was she an incredibly powerful self-taught Earthbender, she was the earthbending teacher to the Avatar. Finally not only was she the Avatar's teacher, she was the first and only person ever to manipulate metal with her bare hands. Now wherever she went she was followed by a crowd of people fascinated by her for any or every one of those reasons. She felt them following her like a herd of Saber-Toothed Mooselions.

"Is that her?" Any new arrival would say in hushed tones, "The Metalbender?"

That would be followed up with a hushed conversation describing all of Toph's feats in a fantastic fashion. The fighters would marvel at her intuitive powers, the scholars would postulate about her blindness and her relationship with the earth, and the awe struck fans would speculate on how just sharing a moment with Toph would make their life perfect. None dared approach, too many of them had been walled up, or trapped atop earthen spires, for bothering the girl in question.

Toph had just finished restoring one of the small stone bridges that crossed over the canals to the muted cheers of the locals and her fan base. The new structure was unmistakably Toph, a simple stone platform with two, solid, four foot high railings; appearances never mattered to the Blind Bandit.

She felt the ground begin to cool, and knew that it was getting dark. She made a quick duck down an alleyway and in one final act of urban planning, threw up a wall behind her to ditch her entourage. She turned back to head to the small house that she and her friends had called home during their previous stay in the city, but she was not alone.

A flick of her wrists had the stranger pinned by his neck in a stone pillory, a gasp of air escaping his lips. "Message for you ma'am. From the King." The page was carrying a small slip of parchment.

"The King wrote me a note?!?" Toph was incredulous.

"Oh, no, no please, these are just my directions, pleasedon'thurtme." The page was near tears.

Toph lowered her arm and released the page. He told her that His Highness wanted to see her immediately, and he was prepared to escort her. She waved him off with a small smile; she could feel her way to the palace at this point. She could find the center of the city by sensing routes of the city's tram system, the closer they came to each other, the nearer she was to the central station. From there it was a matter of following the royal guards footfalls to the palace gate, the guards always walked a bit faster away from the palace, heading home at the end of their shift. Large, flat stones eventually replaced the cobbles of the outer rings, signaling that she had arrived at her destination.

She was hopeful that she would be in the presence of her friends again, whom she had not been around for days. Sokka had discovered the Kyoshi Warriors being held captive in the palace dungeons; half starved and without their leader, Suki. Toph had felt Sokka's heart race at the prospect of seeing her again, and when he found out she was gone, it had almost stopped. Toph cursed her ability to sense the truth in that moment; she knew then that Sokka would never feel that way about her.

Sokka took the island warriors to the city's port where his father's fleet was docked. There he worked on rebuilding both the girls and the ships night and day in preparation for what ever came next. His sister Katara moved into the hospital and was applying her healing skills full time treating casualties, and Aang had taken off on Appa to find the Guru, desperate to find a way to reenter the Avatar State.

So Toph was saddened to arrive at the palace alone and to be unceremoniously ushered into the War Room. There the King and the three remaining High Generals were waiting for the young Earthbender.

"Toph Bei Fong," The King spoke. His voice was still the same soft tone it always was, but Toph could tell he had truly changed. Where once he was a puppet on a string, the King now held himself with the confidence of a master Earthbender. "The Earth Kingdom needs you."

The newly commissioned Major Toph was immediately put to work training the Royal Army in preparation of the invasion of the Fire Nation. There was no time to lose; Sozen's Comet would arrive in less than a month. They had allocated only two weeks for preparation and one week to make the crossing. On the surface it was a sneak attack to cut the enemy's supply lines, but in reality it was a last ditch effort to prevent the Fire Lord from effectively using the comet's power by disrupting his chain of command.

Toph's unit was composed of the Army's best Earthbenders, an elite division of troops charged with the goal of seizing the Inxon beachhead: the most important, and most dangerous, task of the entire plan. Her orders were to take command of her unit on the beach of Lake Laogai and prepare them for the attack.

She arrived just after dawn to find the men milling about on the sands, most sitting in the shade of the blocks of stone created weeks ago to defeat Long Feng's most loyal Dai Li agents and recover Appa. The rubble of the walls that the mighty flying beast had shattered still lay in the sand. Toph could feel that only a few of them noticed her approach, and fewer still paid her any attention. She knew that they would were told to expect her, and she wasn't naive enough to think that they would snap to right away.

"Form up!" She yelled, not surprised that they paid her little mind, she tapped her foot twice, even on the sand she could feel where they were, "_I said_…" Toph brought up her right hand and moved it sharply to the left causing six long stone rods to jut out from the cliff side, dividing the unit in rows, "…_form up!_" Toph brought her left arm forward, hurling seven rocks forward from behind her. The Earth Kingdom soldiers had no choice but to line up to prevent being hit. Toph moved one last time to shift the rods back into the cliff side, and smirked at her nicely ordered pattern of fifty-six Earthbenders, all of their hearts racing in terror of the blind girl's skill.

"Now listen up you pathetic pebble pushing pidgeondoves! My name is Toph Bei Fong, _Major_ Toph Bei Fong, but you mud brained mamma's boys can call me _Sir_. My King, and he _is_ _my_ King, since you worthless washrags have only one ruler now: and that is I, has apparently graced me with the honor of working with the Royal Army's best. I'll tell you now," Toph lifted her head and tossed the loose hair from her face, "I don't see it."

None of them dared to laugh.

Toph smiled inwardly, "Here's the deal dust brains, we are going to drill night and day, _night and day_ until you are one with the earth. Until the world itself is at your command. Until can unleash the planet's fury on those who would dare to take it from its people! The Fire Nation better learn how to grow wings, 'cause you will _never_ let them to lay a foot on _our_ ground EVER AGAIN! DO YOU GET ME?"

"SIR, YES, SIR!" Fifty six voices shouted in unison, but Toph only heard one.

"You!" Toph pointed out at the unit, who were stunned that the blind girl could point at anyone. They followed her finger back, and it led to a young man in the second to last row, "Front and center!"

The young man wasted no time following the order, he knew this would happen and knew too well to play dumb. "Sir, Private Ghashiun reporting as ordered, sir!"

It was the young man who led the group that captured Appa outside of the Spirit Library, "I know who you are, Sandbender, what are you doing here?" Toph commanded.

Ghashiun looked sheepish, "Sir, I…"

Toph felt him tense up. He was nervous; it was something personal and not for the ears of the men, "Never mind! I just remembered, I don't care!" She moved away from him to address the unit and could feel that the young man was relieved, "You know what we have here, you worthless gaggle of goosefish? A genuine Sandbender straight from the Si Wong Desert! How'd we get so lucky? We _are_ lucky, aren't we?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" They yelled. It was going to be a _long_ time before she got tired of that. She turned back to Ghashiun.

"I've got a special job for you; you're going to teach us how to fight on the sand. And you'd better be good at it!" she shouted at Ghashiun, pointing at his face while looking down, "Or we are all going to end up under it! Do you get me…_Corporal_?"

The newly promoted Corporal Ghashiun was stunned and more than a bit fearful, "Yes, ma'am, err, sir!"

"Fine!" She waved him off and he fell back in line, "Now let's get started." Toph summoned a pile of rocks in front of her and climbed on top, "Which one of you cactus-juice drinking wall flowers is going to knock me off this hill?"

Time began to move very fast, and although Toph was unable to teach anyone without her special gift the act of bending metal, she nevertheless drilled her charges mercilessly night and day. Each day they marched down to the beach and in the shadow of the Water Tribe fleet, she had Ghashiun step up and help the unit gain confidence fighting on sand. Toph never let on that she ever had any problems with it herself; she spent the first few lessons 'observing' Ghashiun and reading how his movements were connected to his element. His style was more of a combination of airbending and waterbending more than the traditional earthbending style. His teaching was solid as well; he gained confidence quickly and exuded the kind of leadership that was useless to a mere desert raider.

After a few days she joined in on the lessons and Ghashiun had gotten bold enough to even correct Toph on her sandbending style. She was prideful, but she didn't mind having the young desert dweller close to her. None of the others in the unit dared to get that close, and during rare periods of rest the soldiers exchanged stories of how they had become more terrified of a blind twelve year old then the Fire Lord himself.

"It's the way she points right at you if you're just a fraction off the pace..." "The mouth on her, I've got a little girl at home, and if she ever spoke like that…" "Those eyes, she looks right though you with those glassy eyes…and that grin…it's like she's a demon! A grinning demon!"

Toph, lying on the ground beneath her earth tent, smiled to herself, happy with her new nickname. Her force was coming along great, and soon she was going to show the whole world what she could do, "What do you want?" She asked Ghashiun, whom she had felt gingerly walk up to the 'door' of her tent.

The young Sandbender was not surprised, he knew better then anybody that no one sneaked up on the Major, at least not since he had done it himself the day he stole the Avatar's Sky Bison, "Sir, a word please?" Toph pounded her heel on the ground and opened the front wall, then moved back to sit against the rear, "Permission to speak freely?"

"Get on with it!"

"Sorry, sir. I just wanted to thank you for not sharing…our history with the rest of the unit."

"It was not important for them to know, besides you have something I need…the _unit_ needs: your sandbending. So don't worry about it."

"I need to tell you this; I never thought I'd get a chance to talk to any of you again. After you four left, things were different in my tribe. No one treated me any different, and that was the problem. I'd done a terrible thing, I hurt the Avatar,"

"You don't need to worry about it…"

"No, please, let me finish. I'd damaged the world's best chance for peace, and everyone in my village treated it as if it was a childhood prank. I couldn't look at myself. So I left, I joined up, and here I am with you again. There really must be some kind of order to the universe." There was a long pause. Toph had a biting, sarcastic comment on the tip of her tongue, but for some reason, she couldn't say anything.

He continued, "I just wanted to tell you that you could trust me, but I'm not here to make things right with you, I'm here to make things right with myself." There was another long pause, "That's it. Permission to leave?"

"Dismissed," Ghashiun turned and left, as soon as he was across the threshold, Toph closed the 'door' behind him. A moment later he could hear her yell, "You know on any other surface, I would have kicked your butt!"

"Yes, ma'am" he replied softly, almost to himself, but knowing that she could still hear him.

_That's one messed up kid,_ she thought to herself_, but I know what it is like to have a family that doesn't care. However, their opinion doesn't matter; they lost that right when they sent bounty hunters after me! _When Toph realized that she had triggered small earthquake, she calmed herself down and turned over and went to sleep. She never dreamed.

**One Week Before Cometfall**

While Toph's unit was breaking camp and preparing to march to the retrofitted water tribe ships, Major Toph herself was practicing her sandbending by dividing small piles of the substance in half again and again. She was almost done when she felt a slight breeze disturb her sand and foretell the unmistakably soft footsteps of her former pupil.

"Welcome back, Twinkle Toes, we were just about to leave without you."

The Avatar, Aang, gave a quick hand salute and bow, showing respect to his former teacher, "Hello Toph, good to see you. I need to get everyone together right away."

Less then an hour later Toph was alone in their small house, the front corner still in disrepair. She was uneasy about the meeting Aang had called, the Avatar seemed ill at ease and that wasn't like him.

Toph was snapped out of her reverie by the arrival of Sokka. When he finally made it inside, she could feel that he was carrying something that she couldn't get a read on right away.

"Ah, if it isn't Grand High General Toph, the legendary Badgermole of the East! Company…Atten-Hut!" Sokka joked and gave an exaggerated salute.

Toph giggled and retuned the salute, _he seems like he always does_, _but there's something darker._ He finally let the item he was carrying hit the ground. The noise it made let Toph know it was a long, wide piece of metal, the kind that the Water Tribe warriors were fastening to the bows of their boats in preparation for the invasion, "I need your help with something."

Moments later Sokka was lying on his side with his shirt off. Toph laid the metal plank over his chest and just as she struck it, Katara and Aang walked in. Sokka screamed in pain and surprise at being caught in this situation.

"This is not what it looks like." Sokka said, half out of breath.

Aang scratched his bald head, "What does it look like?"

"I have a...AAARRRGGHH...plan" he eked out as Toph delivered another blow, smiling like crazy.

When she finished creating Sokka's secret defense, the three of them exchanged jokes at Sokka's expense about the feasibly of his latest bright idea. It was a nice moment of levity before they got down to business. Aang explained where he had been and what he needed to do.

When they finally sat down to begin the séance, Toph was bewildered. Aang had been on a spiritual quest and had discovered some truly frightening things about the war, about the nature of the Avatar, and about how everything, and he meant everything, was connected. What he needed now was the help of others strongly connected to the Spirit World: powerful benders, to help him make sense of a vision he had had.

"Then what's Sokka doing here?" Toph joked.

"He's the only other one I know of who's been to the spirit world, and I'll need that to strengthen the link," Aang replied. Sokka shot Toph a satisfied look, which he held until he remembered that she couldn't see, "Ok, now everybody relax, and close your eyes," he continued in disaffected monk tone that she disliked but she complied, "this should only take a moment…and there. Here we are! The Spirit World!"

It was then that Toph began to scream.

**Cometfall**

The crossing had been as fast as anticipated. The waterbendering technique of the Foggy Bottom Swamp dwellers produced a much higher top speed than even the most powerful Fire Nation engine could create. This speed matched with perfect tactical bending on the part of the Northern Water Tribesmen had made breaking the Fire Navy blockade easy. They were now in sight of the beach, and the Royal Army, lead by the elite unit now known as _Toph's Grinning Demons_, were making their approach.

Major Bei Fong spit over the side of the boat in anticipation. She felt as if she had finally regained the confidence she had lost after her experience with Aang one week ago. Katara had found her by following the large trail of destruction that followed her from the house to a small bridge that she had made two weeks previous. She helped her come to grips with her experience and regain her stride. However the world was different for her now, and she knew her life would never be the same again.

She had to say goodbye to her friends one more time, and maybe for the last time. Aang, Sokka, and Katara had flown off on Appa not long ago to make a rendezvous on Crescent Island with the leader of a resistance movement that had made itself known. They purported to have to power to disrupt the Fire Army's chain of command, and weaken their defenses enough to allow the Avatar to face the Fire Lord without too much interference. Therefore the invasion plan had changed again one final time. Their goal had become diversionary: they were still assaulting a hostile beach and facing overwhelming odds, but now the objective wasn't victory, it was just staving off defeat.

The landing crafts began to take fire about two hundred feet from the beach. Fire Army catapults flung rocks covered in flaming rags out over the ocean. Most plopped harmlessly into the water. The few that came close were first extinguished by each craft's Waterbender pilot then redirected by a designated Eathbender.

Toph was unsurprised to be caught off guard by the first near miss, but never moved her head from its bowed state, "How's it look?" She whispered.

Corporal Ghashiun, whom Toph had reluctantly let become her eyes for anything beyond the boat's borders, leaned in very close, "Not bad, the shots are few and scattered," Toph could feel his breath on her neck, "looks like the plan worked."

"That part anyway," Toph was skeptical of even the concept of a resistance movement within the Fire Nation and hoped the idea of it hadn't gotten her friends killed by now, "How much further?"

"Only about…GET DOWN!" The corporal tackled his commander to the deck; Toph felt a massive wave of heat pass overhead. The young man, surprised at his actions, explained himself right away. "Firebenders, sir, hundreds of them attacked at once, the boats are burning, and a lot of people are hurt. Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine once you get off of me!" Ghashiun complied sheepishly, "Now, how far is it to the beach?" Just then, the lead ships ran aground tossing their contents forward, "never mind, let's go."

Toph vaulted over the bow and the instant she felt the ground hit her bare feet, she felt whole again. A quick twist of her heels firmed up the black sand beneath her and gave her a better sense of the challenge ahead of her. Only twenty-five feet up the beach was a low metal wall, and behind it were the Firebenders, lined up and throwing flame with every movement. The ocean lapped at her heels has she raised her arms immediately and created a wave of sand in time with the water's motion, just as she had practiced doing. With the waving of her arms, the black sand rolled forward, absorbing jets of flame and falling back down.

Moments later the remaining _Grinning Demons_ disembarked and took their positions along side their commander. The black wave of sand became bigger and bigger, absorbing more and more heat until the individual grains began to melt. A flaming catapult shot impacted just down the beach from Toph, scattering a dozen of her force.

Ghashiun was getting nervous, "This is taking too long!" He yelled over the roars of flame and the strange grinding noise that the waves of sand created.

"We're almost there, just a bit longer, hang on!" Toph yelled back, trying to reassure herself as well. The first part of the plan had to be completed soon. If the remaining landing force arrived now, they'd be sitting turtleducks, "How far out are the boats?" She asked, annoyed with herself.

The young corporal looked backwards without missing a step in his part of the sand wave, "About two minutes."

_Two minutes could be an instant or a lifetime_, Toph thought as the heat coming off the black sand left her dripping with sweat. She felt the sand become more and more pliable as it absorbed the attacking flames. It was close to being ready; her unit had done an excellent job keeping up the rhythm. Other than the occasional catapult hit, all the attacking flames were being intercepted. _Just a few more_, she thought, now trying to actively ignore the pain of being occasionally dusted by searing sand from the now burning ground. She had no choice; the sand had to be just right for this to work. They were going to use the Firebender's power against them. _I have to move up the beach before they second attack wave hits. _Toph felt the beach sand start to thicken, _it's now or never_.

"Now! Pull! Pull it!" The Major yelled to her troop. In unison the _Grinning Demons_ pulled the now molten wave of sand in an arc over their heads. The waterbending boat pilots recognized their signal and threw a huge swell of water over the beach. The cooling wave struck the melted sand and gave off a huge cloud of steam; the pile of hot sand creaked and groaned as it solidified. Anxious to know if the plan had worked, Toph moved towards the strange new structure, placing a hand, instantly burned, against the smooth wall of obsidian glass.

They had done it. There was now a fireproof barrier along the beach's entire span and it was past time to finish the job. "PUSH!" Toph ordered and as the word was passed down the line, each one of her men put their hands on the scorching, opaque glass and moved it enmass up the beach.

Once the wall was in motion, Toph gave her second order: "FIRE!" as she and her unit dug their fingers into the glass and shot black spears of obsidian out the other side at the defending firebenders like a porcupineboar throwing it's quills. The sharp daggers startled the enemy, piecing their armor where they stuck or shattering into a thousand razor sharp pieces when they met rock or the metal defense wall.

As the black glass wall reached the top of the beach, the landing of the main Royal Army force began in earnest. Defending firebenders could no longer see the beach, and even if they could, the obsidian shield absorbed their attacks. There was only one thing left to do, the job Toph was hired for.

Major Toph took her hands off the wall and curled them into fists, and when she moved her arms down sharply the glass wall parted in front of her. She moved into the Toph sized tunnel and came up against the metal wall. She gave it two quick raps with her knuckles, "Wow, that's thick. Makes me think they didn't want anyone to drop by!" Toph struck the wall with both hands, but she couldn't get a read on its composition. Again and again she hit the wall with no results, _No! This can't be happening, _she thought, _I have to be able to do this. Everyone is counting on me! _

Again she hit the wall, this time hard enough to cut the skin on her hands, leaving streaks of blood over its surface. She rested her forehead against the barrier. _This isn't me, it's the Spirit World. I can't let that place keep affecting me! That's not who I am, I don't want to be there, I don't need what it offered, I am NOT WEAK!_

Toph slammed her head on the wall, cutting herself slightly in the process, but finally feeling it. She glimpsed the metal's composite elements, the places where they met and mixed in the most impossibly small way. As a drip of blood ran down her face, Toph's wide grin returned. She reached back and thrust her fingers directly into wall and gripped two wads of metal as if they were parchment. With a yell, she wrenched the wall down over the beach's entire length, pinning a large number of enemy benders beneath the wreckage.

The breakout from the beachhead began. Hundreds of earthbenders and Royal Army warriors streamed through similar tunnels in the glass wall, created by other Grinning Demons, and the rout was on. The landing was a success; soon the Royal Army would be knocking on the gates of the Fire Palace itself.

Toph felt Corporal Ghashiun run to her, at first she thought he was going to be in congratulations, but with every step, she felt more assured that something was wrong. The final proof was that Ghashiun left off the ground with a yell, "TAKE COVER!" and tackled Toph forward just as an explosion occurred right were she was standing a moment before.

"Airships!" She heard someone yell, Toph couldn't tell who, the impact of the bomb left her dazed and disoriented.

"Ghashiun!" She yelled, but she couldn't feel his presence anywhere. Another explosion occurred in the distance: they were under attack from the sky. Toph felt a twinge of fear, _they could be anywhere, _she thought. She remembered Sokka describing what the airships looked like. Boats with big spheres of air holding them in sky like slow Sky Bison.

Again and again the bombs went off catching Toph by surprise each time. _I have to do something, but what? I can't even see them…I don't need to see them! _Toph curled her fingers and faced her palms down, and then flung her arms up and elevated herself into the sky on a stone pillar. When she felt she was at a suitable height, she reached her fingers out and summoned ten long strings of back sand, a single grain thick, up from the beach. She splayed her hands and whipped the strands of sand around in the sky, tearing dozens of the airship's support balloons, causing them to crash.

She brought the sand back and formed the grains into two swirling spheres in her palms. In her first attack, she felt the locations of a dozen or so more ships that she only brushed past the first time. She shot the sands out of her hands again and again, taking the ships out two at a time. Toph began to laugh; she stretched the sand out forming two giant black wings on either side of her. Spinning around she raked the sky clean of attackers, her laughter contrasting harshly with the sound of men screaming and bombs detonating. She didn't even hear the one that exploded at her feet. Major Toph Bei Fong fell into darkness.

**One Hundred Years After Cometfall**

There is a small bridge in Ba Sing Se, and although it only spans ten feet, it is the most magnificent structure in a city famed for its architecture. People come from all corners of the world to see it; more then just a bridge, it is a work of art carved by the hand of the greatest Earthbender who ever lived. It features impossibly intricate designs folded within each other, metal and stone melded into one. It seems to possess the beauty of another world, one that could only be felt and never seen. So it became tradition that the bridge should be seen only from afar and if one needed to cross it, they would do so with their eyes closed.

To Be Continued

Next: _Katara, the Healer_ cures the pain of strangers and assuages the fears of her friends, but will she lose herself when she fights her dark reflection?

Then see how the other half lives, and dies, in: _Zuko, the Prince._

Finally, it's the final battle in_ Aang, the Avatar._


	3. Chapter 3: Katara, The Healer

Chapter 3: Katara, the Healer

**One Week Before Cometfall**

Katara felt both glad and guilty. Glad that she was going to be with all of her friends again for the first time in weeks, but guilty at what she was leaving behind. She never wanted to sit on the sidelines while others decided her fate, she and her brother had that in common, but there was such a need.

The numbers of those who came away wounded from the Day of the Black Sun far outstripped the capacity of the massive Earth Kingdom capitol, so when the call went out for medical volunteers, Katara could not refuse. She was one of only seven Water Tribe healers that had survived the battle. Of the six Northern Tribe healers, four were as old as her Gran-Gran, and the remaining two were twin sisters much too young to be seeing what war with the Fire Nation could do to the human body.

They worked around the clock mending broken bones, closing grievous wounds, and healing severe burns the best they could. Rest came in short spans when their powers failed them. The seven of them slept in shifts in a small storage room that was quiet once it had been emptied of bandages, but they could not escape the smell, which seemed to seep though the pale green healer's robes they wore and into their very skin.

After a week, one of older women collapsed from exhaustion and had to be taken away, and two days later one of the twin sisters stopped talking altogether, wounded now in a way that mere water could never heal. So when Aang floated in though a nearby window five long days later, she was relived just to see a face not racked with pain.

"Aang, it's good to see you," she said. Katara was having a hard time keeping her own blurry eyes open, so she pictured his shining eyes and wide grin, just like he had always worn since she found him in that iceberg.

"It's good to see you Katara," he replied flatly, and it was then Katara realized that Aang rarely smiled anymore. His near death at the hands of the Fire Lord's daughter Azula had lasting effects. The water from the spirit pool had brought him back, but he could no longer use his Avatar powers effectively. While he was still a powerful Airbender, his waterbending and earthbending had gotten weaker and weaker with every passing day. Soon he would be the Avatar in name only. "I need your help. I've had word sent to Sokka and Toph and we are meeting at the house right away."

"Ok, let me go get changed and I'll meet you out front." Katara rushed back to her temporary bunkhouse eager to leave all this pain behind and get back into the real fight, but when she ran into Yagoda on the way out, she felt her face flush with guilt.

"Yagoda, I'm…sorry b-but Aang, you see," Katara felt shamed, she was abandoning all these people who needed a healer, not a warrior.

Yagoda cupped a warm hand to the side of Katara's face and wiped a tear from her eye. "Don't worry my dear, you have a larger part to play, I've known that since I first saw you. So like Kanna, the same spirit. Don't be afraid of tears, soon the last tear of war will be shed, and we'll have peace." Yagoda moved her hand to Katara's shoulder, "and then I can go see my old friend, she still owes me for that boat she took to escape that old grouch Pakku."

They began to laugh and hugged goodbye. Katara wondered if she would ever see Gran-Gran, Yagoda or even Master Pakku ever again. She changed into her blue gown, slung her water pouch over her shoulder and took the stairs two at time.

Aang didn't speak for most of the walk over, but Katara couldn't suppress her curiosity, "So, Aang, did you find the Guru?"

The question hung in the air for a long time, Katara was just about to let the subject drop when Aang answered, "Yes, I did…find him." There was a long pause before he continued, "I learned some things, but something else happened, and that's what I need you and the others for."

Katara could tell that there was more to what Aang was saying, and none of it was good news. She had known him for less then a year, but it didn't take her longer than a day to learn how to read when he was hiding something. _Or in this case, _she thought,_ hiding from something._

They walked in silence for the rest of the way to the small house in the upper ring that had been gifted to the Avatar as part of the Dai Li plan to keep him out of Long Feng's hair. The front right side was still covered in scaffolding in an aborted attempt to repair they damage done by an eager rule breaker.

Aang opened the door and the pair hopped back in surprise and alarm by the combination of wrenching metal and screams that greeted them. Katara instantly recognized the sound of her brother in distress and moved her right hand over the nozzle of her water pouch in anticipation of action.

"This is not what it looks like!" Sokka said, half out of breath. He was lying shirtless on the floor with a metal plank wrapped around him. Toph was standing over his body with a huge grin on her face, shaking her hands out.

Aang scratched his bald head, "What does it look like?"

"I have a...AAARRRGGHH...plan" he eked out as Toph delivered another blow, "Azula has Suki I just know it…" Katara bit her lip, Suki has been a prisoner of the worst people on the planet for months now, and she worried that her brother was getting his hopes up too high to see her again, _he won't ever be the same if he loses Suki like he lost Yue_. Sokka continued, "and wherever the Princess of Darkness goes...OW...give me a minute here Toph!" The Metalbender chuckled as the plate became a bit more snug, "Mai and Ty Lee won't be far behind."

"So this thing your making is…"

"A trap for our little carnival trickster! She goes to turn me into a rag doll, and ta-da! She learns that pressure works two ways!"

"Your plan is to _let_ her hit you?" Katara asked, hands on hips, wondering what it was with the men in her family that made them think like crazy people.

"When you put it that way, it sounds bad, but yeah. She's going to think she has the fight in the bag, but she'll learn that once everyone knows how a trick is done, no one's fooled by it anymore."

Aang and Katara sat down while Toph made some final adjustments to the half breastplate. When it was done it almost stayed on by it self, but Sokka rubbed Toph's head in thanks and described the straps he had ready to attach to it.

When it was time to get down to business, Aang explained where he had been and what he needed to do. "While I was out there," Aang waved his hand to indicate that he meant 'in the Spirit World,' "Someone was trying to contact me. I don't know who it was, but I knew it was important. It came to me that I needed a little help to strengthen my connection to that plane, so I came back here."

Katara was distressed, _he's not telling us everything,_ "Wait, the Guru couldn't help you with that? What did he say about it?"

Aang looked angry, "Look, I can't tell you everything, you wouldn't understand."

It was Katara's turn to be annoyed, "What? You can't trust us now? We've been with you since the beginning! You know we'll see it through with you until the end, but we need to know what…"

"_Guru Pathik is dead_." Aang cut her off, "He was dead by the time I got back to the Eastern Air Temple, I never spoke to him." Quiet filled room for a long while. Sokka rubbed his sore body and Toph began her habit of cracking her knuckles, but stopped after the sound rang in the room like an explosion. Karata put a hand to her mouth and whispered a quiet apology, but Aang continued speaking and she didn't know if he heard it. "But I did talk to…someone…and the reason my Avatar powers are fading was explained. I can't tell you why, please don't ask, all I can tell you is that the Fire Lord is not the only threat we face, but dealing with him must come first." Aang let that thought sink in before he continued, "I must regain contact with the Spirit World, and I'm going to need your help, only powerful benders can reach it."

"Then what's Sokka doing here?" Toph joked. Katara was glad she was able to break the tense mood. _Someone other then the Fire Lord?_ Katara couldn't let go of that thought, _who could be a bigger threat to the Avatar and the world?_

"He's the only other one I know of who's been to the Spirit World, and I'll need that to strengthen the link," Aang replied with a now rare smile. Katara watched her brother shoot Toph a satisfied look, and rolled her eyes at his forgetfulness, "Ok, now everybody relax, and close your eyes," he continued in a serene tone that belied his biological age, "this should only take a moment…and there. Here we are! The Spirit World!"

Katara opened her eyes and was immediately disoriented. They were standing on a grassy hill, but the grass was a pale yellow color. There were clouds, but they weren't in the sky, they rose up from the ground a short distance away and flew up into a purple sky. There was a single tree, and its trunk wound around itself, Katara got lost following it's contours until a scream broke her concentration.

"W-what's going on?" Katara turned to see Toph swiveling her head around in a panic and yelling, "What happened? Who-o a-are you?"

"What do you mean? It's me Katara!" It was only then that she realized that Toph was _looking directly at her_, "You can see…" Toph's characteristic clouded eyes were now a bright green and darted around in her head like baby birds.

"No! No! This is not happening!" Toph looked at her, Sokka, and Aang, all stunned speechless. She shot her arms forward, trying to earthbend her vision away, but nothing happened. She then looked at her own hands like they weren't real, opening and closing her fists several times and flipping them back and forth, "No, no, no, no, no!"

Toph turned and ran in a panic, Katara started to follow her, but was cut off by a fast moving Aang. After about ten feet, Toph vanished.

"No, Katara, I need you here. I can't maintain the connection without you. We can go after her when we are done, I'm sorry."

Katara was mad. Her friend Toph needed her, her friend Aang needed her, and just like in the hospital, she was being pulled in every direction, just like this entire past year. She felt stretched to the breaking point, trying to help everyone. She was tired. Tired of struggling, tired of picking up the pieces, tired of war.

She abandoned her pursuit, and after a bit of concentration on Aang's part, a form appeared in front of them and soon it coalesced into the shape a young man dressed in Fire Nation armor. Katara, apprehensive at first, couldn't stop looking at his face. She had never seen him before, she knew that, but he looked _so_ familiar.

The spirit bowed slightly and spoke first, "Avatar, it is…an honor. My name is Lu Ten, I believe you have met my father."

About an hour later they were done. The last person they had ever expected to hear from had contacted them in the strangest way possible. Katara didn't know that the old man was dead, she didn't know him too well, but he had apparently helped both Toph and Aang before and they seemed to trust him. _This doesn't feel right, how can we trust them after what happened? How can Aang trust him after what he's done? _Katara pushed those thoughts out of her mind for now. _I have to find Toph. _Katara wondered where she should start looking, but the moment she opened the door, she realized that it wouldn't be a challenge.

The area looked like a tornado made of stone had hit it. An almost straight line of destruction ran from the small house into the city proper. Paving stones were upturned, the walls of homes and businesses collapsed, and a cloud of dust hung in the air. Katara gingerly made her way down the path that Toph had made for herself, thankful that while the people in the area were dazed, no one looked hurt. The trail led her to one of the city's canals, where a small crowd had gathered, others who had followed the trail who if they went to seek answers, now only stood silent in amazement.

Katara pushed through the crowd and was stunned at what she saw. Toph was kneeling on a small stone bridge that stretched across the narrow canal. She was sculpting the stone with her bare hands, using her power to knead solid rock like it was bread dough. Moving faster and faster as each moment passed, Toph worked over each section of the bridge again and again, creating designs and flowed in and out of each other forming dizzying, indescribable images. Occasionally she would literally summon bands of metal from a destroyed vegetable cart and work them into the design with her metalbending. The dazed owner of the cart sat just a few feet away, covered in his leafy green product, and could only stutter to himself at this turn of events.

Katara inched into the empty space between the crowd and the bridge. "Don't!" one citizen warned, "she's attacked anyone who comes close." He pointed at three city patrolmen who were soaking wet from an involuntary trip into the canal.

Katara never stopped moving, "Don't worry, I'm her…" Suddenly the ground gave way beneath her and formed into a narrow slide that threatened to deposit her into the water as well. Just as she was going to hit the canal, she turned the surface of the water near her feet into ice, and summoned a waterspout to lift her up and gently place her onto the bridge's banister.

"Who's there?" Toph asked, not missing a beat in her work.

Katara didn't know what to think, she knew that Toph knew who was near her from the sounds of a person's footsteps, breathing and heartbeat. _Does she really not know it's me?_ "It's me, _Katara_."

"Katara…Katara…that name, it's familiar…somehow," Toph replied, faintly.

The Waterbender clutched her hands together, "You know me, Katara, the waterbender? Sokka's sister? …Sugar queen?"

"Sugar Queen?" Toph answered with a hint of recognition, pausing for a moment.

"Yes!" She exclaimed, thankful that there was something there at least, "That's me! I'm Sugar Queen!"

Toph stopped suddenly and moved toward Katara, "You sure are! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Katara felt her face go hot, a giant wave rose behind her, and thoroughly doused Toph, who laughs became gurgles for a short time.

"I can't believe you! I was so worried!" Katara was apoplectic with rage. She turned her back and prepared to storm off.

"No, Katara, wait, please…I'm sorry," Toph's tone had changed again, "Please stay."

Katara turned back to see the young Earthbender sitting up against the banister, knees tight to her chest, her head bowed. She sat down next to her friend on the wet, bumpy concrete.

"I was born blind, I was never supposed to be able to see anything, and I realized long ago that seeing was not going to be part of my life. I never expected to experience something like that. What does it mean that I can see in the Spirit World? I always thought I was meant to be this way. It's who I always thought I was."

It was the first time Katara ever saw Toph cry. She put her arm around her friend, "Toph, you've overcome so much, and it has nothing to do with your blindness. You've taught yourself earthbending, you left home in defiance of your parents, and you are a teacher to the Avatar! You're the strongest, bravest person I know, and you and I both know that you're going to be ok."

Toph continued to sob, _she feels so small in my arms_, Katara thought, _it's hard to believe that she has such power, _"Just relax," she said softly, "I'm here for you," Katara pushed her free left arm forward, pulling the water from Toph's wet clothes and the tears from her face.

Soon night began to fall; Toph pushed herself off of Katara and stood up, "It's getting dark. You should head back; I have a little work I need to do here."

_Back to her old self_, Katara thought with a hint of bitterness. She got up and started to walk off.

"Katara, thank you,"

Katara was tired, she waved back knowing it was useless, and gave a quiet, "Don't worry about it."

"No!" Toph's shout stopped Katara in her tracks, she turned around to see Toph standing with her head down and her fists balled. "Katara, really, thank you. Aang is great, and Sokka's…Sokka, but you're my hero Katara. Nobody says anything about it, but we would of never have gotten this far without you. I never thought I could have real friends, and I would never have learned to trust anybody."

It was Katara's turn to cry; she closed back the distance from her friend and wrapped her in a big hug, "So…how did I look?" she smiled.

"You're very pretty, but I couldn't take my eyes off of Sokka's ears, they're huge!" The two of them laughed together, but Katara couldn't shake the feeling of finality this moment had.

**Cometfall**

One week later Katara felt like she was in some strange alternate world. She, Sokka and Aang were just outside the walls of the Fire Lord's palace courtesy of Prince Zuko and his allies. Katara had known for a week that she would see the scarred prince again, but to be standing next to him, to be depending on him at this crucial moment felt unreal.

Months ago in the caverns of old Ba Sing Se, Katara had no idea that her and Aang's fight with him and his sister was all part of his and his uncle's plan get close to the Fire Lord. _It felt too real to be a trick_, Katara thought thinking back to how close Aang came to dying in her arms, _but some how...I trust him._

"This way, hurry." Zuko growled in a hushed tone. The sound of his voice still sent shivers down Katara's spine. She couldn't help be imagine all of the times they faced destruction at his hands. In the early going when he seemed impossibly strong and implacable, and even after he had seemingly been humbled by his own people, he was still an unrelenting force in their lives.

Zuko touched the outer wall and a jolt of flame shot from his hands and traced the outline of a door. The wall slid back revealing a passage inside. Single file, they entered the palace gardens. Gentle slops of grass covered the grounds, interrupted only by a single old shade tree. An eerily serene pond featured a circling row of turtleducks, and nearby a white marble fountain bubbled endlessly. _Toph should be hitting the beach just a few miles from here_, Katara thought, _and here we are in a peaceful garden._

"It looks like I've underestimated you, brother." The cold voice of the Fire Nation Princess called out from behind the tree, sharp as a knife, "when I saw that the palace guard had vanished, I didn't even think that _you_ had anything to do with it, but Father saw you approach with the Avatar and sent me to deal with you. After all I went through for you to allow you to return; after all your speeches, you go and betray your people again."

Aang, Sokka, Zuko and Katara had used the time spent during the speech to fan out and try and surround Azula. Zuko grumbled back, "I have not betrayed the Fire Nation, our father has! He thinks we are fools, but it is he who's being fooled, and he must be stopped!"

"Meaningless prattle from a traitor. You are the only fool here; the comet will arrive soon, and even without its power I'm more than a match for you Zuzu, and these…people don't stand a chance."

"I don't need their help to deal with you Azula!" Zuko pointed at Sokka without taking his eyes off his sister, "You! Boy!"

"The name's Sokka, jerk." Katara heard her brother respond, both with words and with the drawing of his machete.

"The Earth Kingdom girl is in the palace, go."

"I'm not leaving Aang."

"Go ahead Sokka, I'll be fine." Aang reassured his friend. The pair exchanged a quick glance, _how boys say goodbye_, Katara thought, and Sokka carefully made his way around Azula and headed for the palace interior.

"Be careful!" Katara yelled, feeling her heart ache as her brother ran headlong into who knew what danger.

Azula laughed "How touching, it's the sibling relationships you always wanted Zuzu!" Zuko said nothing. "Well, it's over now, since Ty Lee and Mai are going to kill him." Katara's stomach turned, _how could she be so hateful? _"Now who is left, ah yes, the Avatar! My father is on the palace roof, waiting for you. I would not dare to deny him the privilege of killing you."

Aang looked down, whispered, "Goodbye Katara," flipped his staff around and tapped it on the ground, releasing its wings. One step and he was off, soaring into the sky sharply to reach the top of the palace.

"Or maybe I'll let him be mad at me later!" With that, Azula spun around and began maneuvering for a lighting attack.

"NO!" Katara shouted and lashed out with some of her bending water, snaring Azula's left hand just as she was about to fire.

Azula spun back around, her face alit with rage. "How dare you, you PEASENT!" She released her electrical energy out of her hand and along Katara's water rope, and just as it was about to reach her, Zuko cut the connection with his hand, drew the power across his body and out his other hand, blowing a hole in the nearby wall.

_Zuko redirected the lighting_, Katara was stunned, _but something's wrong_. She watched as Zuko clutched at his chest and dropped to one knee. He was on the ground a moment later, breathing erratically.

Azula scoffed, "The fool must care for you to try a trick that's way above his level. Now let's see if I can arrange it for you to be there waiting for him when he dies!"

Katara was not going to stand and listen to her anymore. Dashing for the fountain as jets of blue flame streaked behind her, she used an ice step that she created only for the moment that she needed it, and leapt atop the structure. She then pulled the fluid up her body and cooled it strategically to form two gauntlets of ice on her lower arms. Katara then pulled two giant spheres of water up and out of the nearby pond and held them high above the garden, each with one hand.

Azula sent a large fireball forward with both hands, and Katara doused it with the water from her left hand, and then doused Azula with the water from her right.

Left with her hair mussed and literally steaming, Azula shouted, "You filth!"

"You sure like to hear yourself talk!" Katara send a wide band of water across Azula's face and froze it, and the princess's lips, shut. It didn't hold for long. Azula melted it with flame from her nostrils and literally growled until her whole body was ringed in blue fire. She swung a kick out at mid level that flung a horizontal arc of flame out at where Katara was standing.

Katara hopped up and kicked her feet back as the top level of the fountain was destroyed beneath her, and she landed on the next lower level. Anticipating Azula's next move, Katara flipped forward as her opponent destroyed the last standing part of the fountain. Katara converted the ice on her left arm back into water and performed the single water whip in midair, slapping Azula in the back of her head, causing her to stumble forward.

Now with the pond behind her, she pulled two long tendrils of water up and froze their exposed ends. Azula regained her balance, spun around and brandished two long spears of fire. The two masters dueled in midair with their contrasting elemental weapons for what seemed like hours; the clangs of traditional weapons were replaced with the sounds of fire sizzling and ice cracking. After several parries Azula swept her spears low and severed the water spouts from their source.

Katara was off guard and she knew it, her opponent launched eight darts of blue fire from each of her finger tips. Katara bent backward to dodge and felt the heat darts on her face. Looking backwards over her head, she saw the pond behind her and converted her dodge into a backwards cartwheel and jumped feet first into the water. Now fully submerged she motioned to create rapidly rising waves in the once still water.

The pond, now transformed into a small ocean, began dousing Azula in ever-growing waves of water. _If I can keep her cold_, Katara strategized, _I can keep her bending under control, I hope_. Katara felt herself begin to weaken as she struggled to continue to hold her breath; she created one last large wave and rode it up and out of the pond.

Gasping for air once on the surface, Katara could see that Azula wasn't faring much better, steam was rising off of her body and she struggled to move in her now waterlogged royal garb. Katara aimed the wave she was riding at her opponent just as she was preparing to generate a fire shield to protect herself. Katara froze the water just before it reached Azula and the combination of rapid heating and cooling caused a large explosion that flung the competitors in opposite directions.

Katara landed hard on the ground and felt what little breath she had left escape her body. She blacked out for a moment and saw in that instant a world set ablaze, a fiery ruin were everyone in her life laid dead and dying around her, and where only she and Azula stood fighting endlessly and the cries of her friends and family went unheard and unheeded. Azula was smiling, they both were smiling.

Katara came to and got up on one knee, "No," she wisped to herself, "this has to stop." Her vision cleared and she saw Azula, likewise dazed, picking herself up in front of the base of the garden's lone tree twenty paces away.

"This has to stop!" Katara shouted, her voice hoarse.

Azula cackled briefly, "What's the problem, peasant? Lose your nerve? Don't worry; I'll finish it for you!" Azula brought both of her of her fists close to her body and a small blue flame began to grow rapidly in front of her, Katara could already feel the heat at her distance.

"No! This is over, now!" Katara shot both of her arms out to the right and swept them to her left as fast as she could.

Azula saw the peasant witch move in a way she had never seen a Waterbender move before, and before she knew it she was on the ground, and her blue fireball dissipated as her concentration was shattered. _She moved the ground? She earthbended? How is that possible?_

Using the Foggy Bottom Swamp Waterbenders to power the Earth Kingdom Navy had been one of Sokka's better ideas. Cornering their leader Huu aboard the flagship and getting him to teach her plantbending had been Katara's best. After only a few lessons she had managed to bend the grass beneath Azula's feet and cause her to lose her balance. _Now the tricky part._ Katara, raised her arms and a dozen of the tree's roots sprung out of the ground and wrapped around Azula, immobilizing her on the ground.

Katara let her arms drop in exhaustion, _it's over, finally._ She heard a faint coughing sound and cursed herself for forgetting about Zuko this whole time. Katara ran past the prone form of Azula, who if she could kill with the fire in her eyes, would have done so. Katara knelt down beside Zuko and tried to ascertain his condition. His breath was shallow and he was paler then usual. The lighting must have damaged his heart. Katara pulled the water out of her pouch and wrapped her hand with it. After a little concentration, it began to glow yellow and she held her hands against Zuko's chest, trying to repair the damage.

A tense minute passed, but nothing happened, it was then Katara notice that it was getting brighter out. She looked up and saw that the sky was turning red and the light was not coming from the sun, but from a new object burning a streak across the sky. _Sozin's Comet…oh no…_

Suddenly Katara was blown to her haunches as the place where Azula lay bound was engulfed in flames. The Fire Nation Princess rose off the ground and as if buoyed by the flames and gently came to her feet. She was engulfed in blue flames that seemed to come from everywhere, her hands, her feet, from inside her mouth, and even from her eyes.

"You mongrel!" Azula's voice was now crackling like a roaring campfire, "How dare you so that to me!" She began to move towards Katara and Zuko, each step igniting the ground in expanding rings of flame. "It's clear to me now that we were too merciful to your kind. We let some of you live, out of pity mainly, but really because you hopeless ice-bound fools might prove useful to the Fire Nation someday, but you've proven that will no longer be possible." Azula snapped her fingers and the tree that had held her prisoner was reduced to cinders in less then a second, "Once I am done with you I will personally see to it that every one of you moon-loving rabble is burnt off the face of my world!" With that, Azula launched the largest fire attack Katara had ever seen directly at her.

With only a split second to react, Katara pulled all the water from her pouch, from her hands, even the sweat off of her body into an ice dome over her and Zuko. It only held for a moment beneath the flames, and Katara, shielding Zuko with her body, felt her hair disintegrate, and the flesh of her back blister and burn under the heat. The agony was unbelievable.

Azula began to laugh, "You survived…good. That pain is only the beginning. I've decided to keep you alive. I'm going to take you with me and let you witness your tribe's destruction at my hands. You will learn your place and rue the day that you ever thought that you had the power to confront you betters. Now, ZuZu you're going to…" Mid-sentence, the massive flames around Azula went out. Stunned, she turned around to face the palace, "Father? Why?"

Katara, almost blinded by pain, looked towards the palace as well. On the roof a being of pure flame grew larger and larger. Fire Lord Ozai had absorbed all of the comet's power into himself. _Aang_, Katara thought, _please be alive_.

It did not seem possible, but Azula had gotten even madder at the loss of her comet enhanced power. "Fine!" she spit, "I'll have Father destroy your people for me; there is nothing he won't do for his little girl." She began to cackle, madly, "Now, where was I…yes, killing my brother." Azula lit a dagger of fire from her outstretched fingers and approached further, "I should have done this a long time ago, the same day I killed mom."

When Katara heard what Azula had said her mind went hollow, _her own mother? _Katara felt weaker then she had ever felt in her whole life, the burn on her back felt cold, and her body felt wrung out of every drop of moisture. The air was parched, the grass was dead, and the pond was dry, there was nothing to stop Azula. The pain she and her family had brought to the world would go on forever, and she couldn't even cry. _No more…_

Zuko, who had heard it too, struggled to get up, but the movement only ignited a coughing fit. His good eye pinched shut in spasm and a single tear escaped and ran down his face.

Azula was almost upon them as Katara shouted, "NO MORE!" She flung the tear off of Zuko's face and froze it in mid-flight. The tiny dart of ice entered the corner of Azula's right eye and lodged in her brain.

The Fire Nation Princess died instantly. She fell to her knees where a drop of blood, the last tear of war, slipped from her eye. A moment later she finally crumpled to the ground.

Katara collapsed atop of Zuko, whispered, "No more," and passed out.

Minutes later the exhausted pair of Sokka and Suki dragged themselves out of the collapsing palace. As soon as he caught sight of the prone forms of Katara, Zuko and Azula, Sokka swung the stunned Suki on to his shoulders and with a surge of adrenaline spirited over to his fallen sister.

He sat Suki down and hesitated as he approached the burned form of his sister, "Katara…" he whispered, keeling beside her. He slowly moved her off of Zuko who began to cough.

"Sokka?" Katara whispered.

"I'm here." Sokka tried to wipe some hair out of her face, but it disintegrated at his touch.

"Is it…over?"

Sokka looked over to see the lifeless form of Azula, and then back to his sister in realization, "Yes, it's over, we'll be home soon…just hang on….hang on."

To Be Continued.

_Next_: See the _Summer of the Comet_ from inside the Fire Nation. Zuko is home after 3 years, to find that the halls of power can be just as deadly as any battlefield. In a tale intrigue, action & suspense, can _Zuko: the Prince_ stay alive long enough to learn the truth about Cometfall?

_Then_: The final battle in _Aang: the Avatar._


	4. Chapter 4: Zuko, the Prince

Chapter 4: Zuko, the Prince

**Six Weeks Before Cometfall**

The Royal Caravan left immediately for the palace from the port of Inxon after the docking of Azula's flagship. It was composed of only two ostrichhorse-drawn carriages, both appointed in a manner befitting its occupants. In one lavishly appointed cab the children of the Fire Lord sat on cushioned chairs in absolute silence. The other carriage was a cast iron monstrosity where the Fire Lord's brother sat on the cold floor, silent only because there was no one to talk to.

The Royal Court had been buzzing with the news of the banished prince's involvement in the capture of Ba Sing Se and his imminent return to his homeland under the protection of his sister. Upon arriving, the Royal siblings were ushered directly into the throne room. Zuko could not shake the eerie feeling that even though the palace was huge, it had loomed even larger in his memory. Being back inside after more then three years, he now found it small and stifling. The pair approached the throne down a long red carpet that was emblazoned with the black symbol of the Fire Nation several times along its length. Zuko noticed that the distance between red armor-clad Royal Guards decreased gradually, until they were standing shoulder to shoulder in front of the raised dais.

The throne was, as per tradition, ringed in flame, causing the intimidating effect that whoever was sitting on the throne was sitting in the middle of an intense blaze. Zuko peered up at it's current occupant, Fire Lord Ozai, who leaned forward, his face blurred by waves of heat, "Now, who is this that _eyes_ me so defiantly?"

Azula answered quickly, "Father, as I explained in my letter..."

"No, no my dear, I want to hear from this stranger who is somehow not cowed in my presence."

Zuko neither flinched, wavered, nor blinked in the face of the disrespect shown to him by his own father, "I am Zuko, Prince of the Fire Nation and heir to the throne." Zuko caught Azula tensing at the full proclamation of his birthright.

"I know of only one Zuko, a sniveling child, a failure and a friend only to traitors." The Fire Lord's voice crackled seemingly in time with the flames.

"That boy you knew is dead, poisoned with words of treachery."

"As luck would have it, this envenomed individual is here with us today," The Fire Lord raised his voice to be more clearly heard, "Bring him out, so our reunion will be complete!"

From the distance first only the sound of marching could be heard, as the noise approached the light of the dais, Zuko could see his uncle Iroh clad in chains that held his arms tightly to his chest, and leg irons that permitted only small steps. He was guarded by four men, each keeping pace with him, with a fifth prodding him forward with a spear. Zuko did not make eye contact, but could still see that frustrating disappointed look in the old man's.

"My brother," the Fire Lord sneered, "what a disappointment you've become. Failure to conquer Ba Sing Se, failure to defend your birthright, treason at the North Pole, and then again both by defending the Avatar and by trying to fill a weak mind with hatred."

Zuko fought to keep himself in check against his father's cruel words, his fingernails digging into his palms. Iroh spoke first, "My Lord, all I have even done was for the benefit and glory of the Fire Nation. A leader should know that pride is not a substitute for wisdom."

"Enough!" Ozai shouted, and his agitation causing the dais flames to rise with his voice, "Your prattling reminds me of why I was glad you were gone! It's a disgrace that I might share blood with both a traitor and a weakling."

"I am not a weakling!" Zuko shouted, fed up with being ignored.

"It again speaks out of turn; perhaps it wants its eyes to be a matched set? Tell me, boy, where is the Avatar? Have you been protecting him as well?"

"The Avatar is a child, as quick to flee a battle as he is to be defeated in one. He only lives this day because of the protection given to him by others just as weak."

The Fire Lord chuckled softly, "One of his protectors stands here now, the one you said who poisoned you with words of treachery. What would you do to him now? Refuse to fight? Cower in fear again?"

"I fear nothing." Zuko growled, his anger rising. He kept his eyes locked on his father's shaded visage.

The Fire Lord began to laugh, and a look of discomfort registered on even Azula's face, "_Agni Kai_." Ozai pronounced, "The survivor will at worst have a life in the dungeons as a reward."

"I am not a dog to fight for the loyalty of a master!" Zuko began to shout; "I am Fire Nation! And I know how to deal with traitors." Zuko turned to his uncle and with a single close range blast, blew a hole through Iroh's chest, killing him instantly.

The body of the former Dragon of the West tumbled backward, his skull impacting hard against the tile just off the edge of the carpet. Azula let out a gasp of surprise, shattering her icy facade for the first time in years. Zuko held his pose for a moment, his fist smoking, then turned and bowed toward his Father.

"Welcome home, my son."

**Two Weeks Earlier**

Princess Azula's flagship slipped out of Chameleon Bay in the dead of night. For all intents, the Fire Nation's occupation of Ba Sing Se had lasted only six weeks. When Azula received word from the Fire Lord to return home with haste and discretion, the unlucky messenger hawk was dished up in the servants' quarters that night for dinner.

The voyage would take only fourteen days. Being able to make the trip from Ba Sing Se to the shores of the Fire Nation in that short span of time was a major mark of pride for the Fire Navy, who boasted that even the Water Tribes couldn't move a boat as fast as the engineering and ingenuity of the Fire Navy.

While Azula had enjoyed sitting on the Earth King's throne and basking in the adoration of her two friends and the awestruck Dai Li, she had in fact very little power when it came to running the city. Massively outnumbered by both the local and refugee populace, if she had announced that a handful of Fire Nation operatives and forty or so Dai Li agents had seized power they would have a riot on their hands. Therefore it was up to the Dai Li to convey, as they always had, that the Earth King was still in charge. This gave Azula little more to do then storm around the palace and constantly question the loyalty of the people around her.

Azula had made conquering Ba Sing Se look easy, but outside the walls there had been nothing but trouble. The weak, scatted bands of Earth Kingdom rebels had unified into an effective army behind the leadership of the deposed Earth King, and were bolstered by the presence of the Avatar. The looming solar eclipse had those in the know on edge and with the arrival of Sozin's comet so near after one hundred years, even the unfailingly aggressive Fire Lord became cautious. _He's biding his time, _Zuko thought, his place in the new order still on shaky enough ground that he made himself scarce during the occupation, _he knows that any territory he might lose would be meaningless with the comet's arrival imminent._

Aboard ship in his stateroom, Zuko kept his eyes closed in feigned sleep for another hour. _I know she's not having me watched, but it's not because she trusts me. Trust is an illusion in my family. She's not watching because she thinks she has me cornered, that she's got the power and that I'm just a fool, but she'll find out what I've learned. But first I have to go see my teacher._

Zuko slipped out of his bed, already wearing the shozoku from his days as a common street bandit. He pulled a coil of fine rope from underneath the bed and slipped out onto the balcony. Easing down onto the pagoda's edge, he peered over, then ducked back quickly as a sailor on watch passed right underneath him. _I won't have long, and getting back up to the upper deck is going to take a bit more time then getting down._

Seconds later, Zuko moved back to the edge and loosened the long stretch of bamboo that edged the outer frame of the eave. Then he leapt down, and after one flip, landed on the ship's outer railing. After tying one end of the rope to the top rail, Zuko rolled forward off the ship, turned and began rappelling down the hull.

Near the waterline Zuko shuffled over the wet, slick hull to a small porthole that had been marked with a strip of fabric.

"Uncle," He whispered.

Iroh appeared in the low light of the stars. Zuko was taken aback at his Uncle's appearance. The former Dragon of the West had been through a lot: once he was a general and the heir to the throne of a nation, then he too was stripped of his birthright, followed by self-imposed exile, a charge of treason, the life of a refugee, a new start as a tea shop owner of all things, an now a prisoner of his own homeland. Zuko knew he was an old man, but now he actually looked it. "Nephew, it's good to see you, do you still have it?"

"Yes, Uncle"

"Don't lose it! After…afterward it might be the only thing that will guarantee that you see the next morning." There was a long span of silence, and Zuko's hands began to ache, but he ignored them.

"I'm sorry it had to end this way. You were so happy in the city with the _Jasmine Dragon_."

"Nephew, I am an old man, and with what terrible things I have done in the vast span of my life, a few weeks of happiness were more then I deserved. I know what is to come will not make up for all of it, but at least I will know what I am doing is right."

"Uncle, I don't know if I can…"

"NO!" Iroh shouted, sounding more scared than angry, "You _must not_ hesitate or all is lost. Nephew, you are a most focused and determined individual; use that to your advantage. See your goal and be unrelenting in its pursuit, I know you can do it!"

"Yes, I can, and I will."

"Good, soon we will have all the time we need to speak, but for now you must go before you are discovered."

"Wait, I have this." Zuko pulled out of his robe a small bundle of food he had smuggled out of the dining room and tied into a cloth napkin.

Iroh's mouth hung open and he slowly reached for the bundle, but before he took hold, he closed his hand and looked down. He pointed to his left, and then motioned for Zuko to hurry up and go.

Zuko repositioned himself to climb alongside the ship; _I love you, Uncle_, he thought, but was too embarrassingly prideful to say out loud.

"I do too, my son." Iroh replied.

Zuko gently kicked out from the small porthole, and over to the neighboring one his uncle had directed him to. Peering inside he could make out the form of the only other prisoner Azula brought along, an Earth Kingdom girl. _What was her name…Suki?_ Zuko had overheard Ty Lee and Mai talking about her when they weren't fawning over Azula or terrifying the hostage palace staff.

The prisoner was the leader of the small band of female warriors from an Earth Kingdom village that he had once chased the Avatar off of. In exchange for her comrades' safety, had surrendered what she knew about Ba Sing Se to Azula. Unsurprisingly, Azula lied. The whole group was subjected to brutal interrogations where they discovered that among other things the leader had a relationship with one of the Avatar's companions, that Water Tribe boy. Azula then chose to take her along, thinking even if it only caused the Avatar a little discomfort, it was worth it keep her away from them. This sick logic delighted Ty Lee and Mai who began to relish the idea of having someone to kick around when the untouchable princess got on their nerves.

Zuko had no way to help her then, and no way to now. His and his uncle's plan didn't have room to save one person, there was too much was a stake. Zuko tossed in the small bundle of food through the porthole and onto the girl before climbing up.

Back on deck, Zuko checked left and right for the patrolling sailor before singeing the rope off the rail, allowing it to fall into the water. Looking up he marked the position of the bamboo rod's remaining ties, and with two pinpoint strikes from each hand, the rod fell free and in dropped into his grip. Backing up to the rail, Zuko used the rod to vault himself back up into his room. After re-securing it to the eve, the only evidence that he had left his room was a pair of singed ties five feet out the window.

**Six Weeks Before Cometfall**

Dismissed from his father's presence not long after his uncle's body was dragged away, Zuko made it all the way out to a small garden near the palace before collapsing against the trunk of a lone tree and vomiting repeatedly. Through the corner of his good eye he saw a figure clinging to the walls of the palace duck out of sight. _Now_ _I'm worthy of being watched_, he thought.

Zuko turned and leaned on the tree, calming himself with memories how he would sit here as a child with his mother and talk about meaningless things, as if their family were simple peasant folk and not royalty. _Nothing simple about being a peasant, I know that now_, he thought, listening to the water babble in the white stone fountain nearby. The garden reminded him of his mother, but that sound reminded him of someone else. _That Water Tribe girl and the look on her face when I attacked her in Old Ba Sing Se. It was full of pain and anger, as if I had hurt her deeply, as if I had betrayed her trust. She has been my enemy for so long now, why did she want to help me? She can't possibly believe that I could be her friend. Foolish hope from a foolish girl,_ Zuko thought, a small smile creeping up on his face involuntary, _she'd better stay that way for a bit longer, I'm not done with her yet. I have to see her again; I have to make her understand._

Zuko opened his eyes a few minutes later to see his sister walking towards him. He righted himself and walked in her direction, away from signs of his weakness. _Verbal spars are a competition to her, _Zuko thought_, and one only slightly less deadly than physical ones_. Azula got the first word in, as usual.

"Brother, I have to hand it to you; my faith was not misplaced."

"I didn't do that for you, Azula." Zuko replied noting how the tone of his voice always belied his frustration with his sister.

"No, it appears you did it in spite of me," Auzla tuned her back to Zuko, clasped her hands behind her back and lifted her head up, her way of showing disrespect for whom she was talking to. "I'm not sure you realized that you are only here at my bequest." Azula paused, waiting for acknowledgment

"Yes…" Zuko humored her.

She turned her had back to her bother, "So I can only assume that you remember how your uncle-I'm sorry-former uncle, was our father's _older_ brother."

_Another pause, she really wants her point to sink in_, "Yes…" Zuko replied, thinking better of screaming '_get on with it!_'

"The line of secession in our family is a bit, jagged, and I had hoped that you realized that your three year absence has caused you to get bumped back to the end of it!"

Zuko felt relived, s_he's way off track, better let her keep thinking she has to watch her back_, "Sister, are you worried that you might join our ancestors before our Father has a chance to?"

Azula turned back towards Zuko, a line of anger showing across her face, "I…"

Zuko cut her off, "Or that I might point out to him the Dai Li agents that you have smuggled into the country and are sneaking around? To think foreigners, earthbenders even, here on the palace grounds? Exile would be a blessing to you if they were discovered." Zuko turned around, clasped his hands behind his back, and looked up, "Here's what we'll do, you tell your little pets to leave me alone, or at least do a _much_ better job trying to follow me, and I won't inform the Fire Lord about your plans for…aggressive succession. We'll let the future handle itself, deal?" Zuko felt the air grow warm behind him; Azula was now literally burning with rage, her fists aflame. _She won't attack, she vouched for me, told her father that she trusted me, what would she say if she killed me with my back turned? She won't attack…I hope._

A moment later a cool breeze marked the moment her flames went out, "Deal." She said icily, and acknowledged that she was in a position of weakness "This was fun, brother, let's speak again soon."

"I look forward to it, sister."

That night Zuko once again lay completely awake. This time, in the bed of his old room in the palace. The attendants had done a good job cleaning it up during the day, no doubt lamenting that they had a cell all decked out for him in the dungeon that was now going unused.

Zuko had spent every night of his childhood in this room; it was his father's when he was a child in the palace. In the structure's one hundred year existence it was always the room where the first born son slept except for the three years, four months and fourteen days that Zuko spent in exile. He knew every noise that every creaking board made, and waited for a sign that he was not alone with his eyes closed for over five hours.

Time continued to move slowly but fatigue was not a factor. _ Even if I wanted to, how could I sleep tonight, after what I have done? I must stay prepared, the easy part is over_. Moments later, he heard it finally: The smallest sound of a floorboard straining against a peg, _left, near the foot!_ Zuko snapped his eyes open, and pulled his legs under him and into a crouch just a poleax cleaved the bottom third of the bed off. A figure dressed entirely in white silk, with a white gasa hat hiding his identity, brought his weapon back up for a horizontal slice that Zuko vaulted over, causing the swing to go wild. Zuko kicked the assailant under his left shoulder and knocking him to the floor_. The disk!_ Zuko turned back and saw what he was looking for on a small table on the right side of his bed. Moving to reach it he quickly tried to grab it and just as quickly pulled back as a second attacker, dressed the same, cut the air right front of him. Zuko quickly sidestepped around and got behind him. Moving in circles to stay behind him as he swung again and again with no avail, Zuko quickly disregarded the sense of Déjà vu that came over him. When the now frustrated swordsman swung high, Zuko ducked down under the strike and unleashed an uppercut with just the right amount of flame to lay his attacker out without killing him.

Turning back to the side table, Zuko was just about to grab the item when a familiar poleax stabbed directly at him. Zuko leapt up and landed on top of the table, the weapon passing between his legs. He turned ninety degrees to his left, caught the pole below his right foot and above his left and shifted his weight back causing the pole to lever upwards out of the attacker's outstretched hands and strike him hard on the chin. Zuko kicked the pole away and cart-wheeled forward, grabbing the disk and landing on the remaining two thirds of the bed. Suddenly two more white clad attackers appeared, one carried a pair of large knives that could easily be mistaken for meat cleavers, the other was unarmed. A_ firebender_, Zuko thought, _are they the ones who I have been waiting for, or assassins sent by Azula? I have no choice but to risk it._

Zuko held the Lotus Tile out in front of him and spoke the words his uncle told him to: "The blossom leaves fall so new flowers grow!"

The mood of the room changed instantly. The attackers held still for a moment, and then dropped their guard. They moved to picked up their fallen comrades, and left as quickly and quietly as then entered. The unarmed one lingered for a moment longer only to say: "Eight Arches, high sun tomorrow."

The next morning, after burning the evidence of his bed and threatening his attendants with the same fate if they prepared a similarly uncomfortable rest the next night, Zuko made several more threatening visits to reestablish his power in the palace. He spent hours gauging the reactions of people to his killing of Iroh, seeing who was intimidated, and who was angry. Zuko noted that while Iroh was once very popular, his standing had waned considerably since joining in his nephew's exile and the blame laid at his feet for the disaster at the North Pole. Most importantly, Zuko was watching for who was watching him. _That Dai Li agent is gone, Azula got the message._

As it neared high sun, Zuko donned a pale red cloak and hood and slipped out of the palace through a drainage pipe he often used as a child. The tunnel was bit more cramped then he remembered, but was unblocked. It led out to the fringes of the town that had gown up around the palace after its construction. The town was nowhere near the size of the old capitol, but its import demanded that it have a certain degree of style that it's proximity to power demanded.

In the center of town a perpetual marketplace bustled endlessly. It had become notorious for the selling of looted items from the other nations that returning solders had stolen to help them make a new start back home. Fire Nation law prohibited pillaging, but it was rarely enforced in the ranks. Soldiers of the Fire Army were usually deployed for over twenty years, and the thought of obtaining wealth was thought of as a morale booster by Fire Army Generals more concerned about themselves than the people they were running out of their homes.

Zuko pretended to look at a pink umbrella and an oddly shaped war club made of bone as he eyed the Eight Arches Monument. The structure consisted of eight stone arches arranged in the eight compass points, all sharing a common central pillar. It was meant to commemorate the unification of the eight provinces into a single Fire Nation, under a single Fire Lord. A feat that Sozin himself performed in his youth, prior to the current war.

_To the outside the Fire Nation has been on the attack for one hundred years, _Zuko thought_, the reality is we've been fighting for much, much longer then that, but only among ourselves. Sozin knew that it was easier to be a conqueror then a ruler, perpetual war left no time for questions. But if the Fire Nation truly conquers the world, who will we fight then? _

When the time was right Zuko moved towards the monument, he was about to try his best nonchalant lean when a dry sounding voice rumbled from behind him, "You have time to play a game, stranger?"

"Games are always being played." Zuko replied with what he hoped was both the first and last of the Order of the White Lotus' verbal tests.

"Follow me, your highness."

Zuko turned to follow the man out the corner of the square, noting how the cloaked gentleman favored his right side while walking. _My visitor with the long reach, let's hope he doesn't hold a grudge._ The pair walked in silence through several winding alleyways, away from the bustling market the town, practically brand new in comparison to other Fire Nation cities, looked particularly run down. _The architecture of a nation with other priorities. _ The pair walked past several open sewers and burnt out husks of buildings before reaching a dilapidated structure with a hanging rag for a door. _Another…modest White Lotus structure, I suppose one doesn't keep a centuries old secret society a secret by building castles and waving flags._

Zuko passed though the threshold a second behind his guide, but found himself alone inside. Movingly slowly, a disorientated Zuko was instantly surrounded by five armed men.

"What is the meaning of this?" Zuko shouted, while gauging his situation.

The dry-voiced man stepped out of the shadows and spoke, "The Rite of Caste has not been evoked for centuries, and never from the man who _killed_ the caste holder. You'll forgive us if we're a bit skeptical of the boy who robbed the order of Grand Master Iroh."

Zuko kept his cool, "If you knew my uncle at all, you would know that he would die before betraying anyone. General Iroh entrusted me with the secret of the Order because he knew what was coming, what _is_ coming, and that all the right pieces had to be in place to stop it. Just like in the game he loved, he understood that you have to make sacrifices to be in position to win. I did not murder my Uncle, he sacrificed himself for the Fire Nation and his people, and he's put the pieces in place. Now it's up to us to finish the game."

The room was quiet for a long time, but not a single blade aimed at Zuko's throat wavered for an instant. _If this doesn't work, I'm dead, the Fire Nation and the world with me._ Nods were exchanged all around and the guards lowered the weapons and their hoods.

Zuko looked the White Louts society members over, and just like those he met in the Earth Kingdom, they were an unremarkable sort. No one that anyone would give a second look to in the street.

_Except one_, _he looks strangely familiar_, Zuko thought then it then came to him in an instant, "The cook?"

"Your highness honors me with his memory," the cook of Zuko's former ship complemented with a big smile and an exaggerated bow.

"My Uncle spoke very highly of your skills," Zuko replied, happy to recall a good memory of him years spent in exile with Iroh. _These people are everywhere, how far do they really reach?_

"The White Louts seeks members skilled in a variety of arts, not just those of the deadly kind," the dry-voiced man offered.

"Although to have your cooking called deadly might mean two different things!" the cook laughed.

The dry-voiced man continued, "Chef Tso now works in the palace kitchens; he will be your contact with the order,"

_I'm lucky I wasn't hungry last night, _Zuko thought_, I might not have lasted as long as I did._

"Your Uncle was a wise man and we will follow his council…what do we need to do?"

"We must first make sure, no matter the cost, that my father survives what is coming."

**Four Weeks Before Cometfall**

_It hasn't even begun yet but a feeling of cold and dread is already everywhere_, Prince Zuko thought as he paced the hallways of the palace. The Day of the Black Sun was now only moments away. Royal astronomers had confirmed that the eclipse would start just a few hours after sunrise and continue all day, blanketing the world in darkness and robbing firebenders of their power. When this fact was learned two months ago it had been a closely guarded secret, only the highest levels of the military were informed, and told to make preparations. It was supposed to stay that way, but word had been leaked to the populous and the people of the Fire Nation were near panic. Some saw it as an evil omen, while most only worried for the safety of their sons and daughters fighting abroad.

_Only one fact remains hidden, _Zuko thought_, who leaked it. _The Prince leaned against the throne room door between two massive royal guards and listened for the tell-tale marching cadence that forewarned the appearance of Princess Azula._ Here comes the prime suspect now._

"My dear Brother, left on the outside again? Even on this most…anticipated of days."

"Sister, there is nothing happening in there that can possibly effect what is coming, and I have to say that I'm surprised that you would look forward to losing your power," Zuko only paused for a moment so he could cut Azula off, "or are you seeking a new type of power?"

Azula seemed intrigued more than the upset that Zuko was aiming for, "I would be careful about who you spoke to about the accumulation of power, Zuzu. You are the one…the only one, that I know of who's killed a member of our family."

Zuko looked away from his sister, trying to look hurt, but instead focused on a small window in the distance where the sun still shined, "If I must explain myself again, I will: what I did was for the good of the Fire Nation. The real question is: is what you're going to do for the Fire Nation or for yourself?" Zuko shifted his eyes to look at his sister, who seemed momentarily surprised. _She hid it well, only those who truly knew her would know what to look for under that veneer._

"Brother, I have no idea what you mean."

"I certainly hope you do," Zuko pushed himself off the wall and came to his feet, he was now standing casually, but firmly rooted, "someone has to tell me how I'm going to kill the Fire Lord."

This time there was no hiding her surprise, "I...I don't know what you mean," Zuko saw her look towards the pair of hulking Royal Guards, who did not move a muscle at the mention of regicide.

"What was the story going to be? No, let me guess," Zuko spared an instant to check the far off window again, it was growing darker. "I'm imprisoned, despite my dear sister's imploring that I am not the weak fool I once was, but a force to be reckoned with. I _somehow_ learn about the Day of The Black Sun, and use the opportunity to escape and assassinate the man who has repeatedly denied me my honor, and his closest advisors. Since I am no doubt to be killed in the resulting melee, this leaves you all alone to become Fire Lady. Of course, I really don't do any of that, your Dai Li pets do the deed and leave my corpse to take the fall. How close am I? I'm not a manipulative little monster like you, but I hope I came close to your master plan."

Azula didn't miss a beat, "I can tell you this, brother. It's the only piece of advice your former mentor gave that I found useful. _No plan survives first contact with the enemy._ You proved that yourself when you killed him, so things will have to change, but the goal is the same. Ah, Zuzu, it wasn't wise to accuse me of treason within earshot of two Royal Guards. Seize him!" Azula pointed a sharp finger at her brother and waited for the fun to begin.

But the guards did not move, they didn't even look at her or her brother, who spoke to break the silence, "These two won't be following your orders Azula, and it's not because they are disloyal, since these two in particular are more loyal to you then any others, being that they are your Dai Li Earthbenders." Azula's surprise and anger at being found out was written all over her face, "They're not following your orders, because they can't." With that Zuko pushed one of them over like he was a stack of wood and watched him clang against the ground face first.

"You…killed them?" Azula was just about lost, looking at her brother with shock, thinking that she had better stop underestimating him.

Zuko stepped up on the disguised Dai Li's back and explained, "Unlike you, I learned a lot from our uncle before his passing, especially about plants, and how they right kinds can be mixed into tea to produce any number of useful effects," _I only wish that was entirely true, _Zuko thought_, but Chef Tso was a much better student than I was…so much knowledge lost because I was impatient, but no need to tell her that_, "No, he's not dead, but neither one of them are coming to your aid anytime soon. And your two little friends are going to have a really hard time getting out of bed this morning," Zuko said with a smile, "That just leaves you, sister, alone as the one who was going to have our father killed, and me alone with the blame. We were supposed to be allies Azula, is that not what you said in the caves of Ba Sing Se? If we're not allies…"

Azula cut him off with a jet of blue flame that Zuko had to duck, "We are not _allies_! We are not _friends_! We only share the tenuous bond of blood, forced onto me by circumstance!" Azula settled into a fighting stance. "I realized that no matter how much smarter and more skilled I was than you, I would never be greater than even the _idea of you _just because you happened to be born before me! I will never rule this world with you in my way!" Azula fired again and Zuko dodged by rolling off the disguised Dai Li, but not before borrowing his twin broadswords. Zuko came to his feet, flipped one sword out of the right hand and into his left, and stuck a defensive posture. Azula was shouting now, "Then you made a fool of yourself and got sent away, but you were still out there. You lost everything, but wouldn't give up; the threat of your return was always there!" She was now attacking in earnest, while Zuko struggled to keep up his defense. "Today was going to be the day, the day I would be rid of those who stood in my way!"

It was then that Zuko felt it, a feeling of cold worse then he'd felt in his life, worse then during his flight from the North Pole. He dropped his guard as Azula moved to launch a fatal fire attack, but nothing happed. Zuko saw cruel realization take over Azula's face.

"Today is not your day Azula. The Black Sun has risen." Zuko stepped forward with his right foot, and in a flash delivered a roundhouse kick that caught his sister on the side of her face, and sent her tumbling. Zuko twirled his swords in his hands as his sister struggled to get up. Before fully standing she swung out with her feet and tried to sweep Zuko's legs out from under him, and while her martial skills were impressive, she had leaned on her natural firebending talent for too long. Zuko, on the other hand, had mastered the sword as well as surviving months without the use of his fire. He easily dodged this attack by flipping backwards onto his hands, laying the swords down under open palms, then back forward onto his feet, picking them back up again with the right one pointing down.

Back standing opposite each other, Zuko feinted with his left hand blade and when Azula pulled her arms back to avoid losing them, he steeped forward and jammed the hilt of the sword in his right hand into his sister's sternum. Azula instantly lost her breath and leaned over, Zuko caught her forehead with his left knee and she was on the ground.

With Azula dazed and nearly immobile, Zuko crossed his swords and jammed them downward, pinning the Princess's neck between two razor sharp edges. Zuko waited for his sister to regain her bearings before speaking, when she almost opened a vein trying to get up and glared at her brother with murder in her eyes, he knew she was ready.

"Please stay still, sister. Enough royal blood has been spilled recently."

"I am going to kill you," she spat through bloody, clenched teeth.

"Maybe someday, but not today. So for now you are going to listen, and I'm going to tell you how this is going to work."

"I don't have to…"

Zuko pulled the hilts of his blades apart a fraction more and the space between Azula's skin and the steel shrank, "Yes you do. You see the Fire Nation is going to take a lot of damage today, but none of it would have compared to what you were going to do. Your plan would have worked too if you only did one thing…" Zuko paused and waited for acknowledgment.

Azula had no choice but to oblige, "and that would be?"

"Include me. You see the setbacks we endure today will easily be overcome with the comet's power at our backs, and soon we will have a whole world to rule. Plenty enough to share."

"Share?" Azula scoffed.

"Yes, share. You see, I have recently come to an epiphany. I'm not angry, I'm not jealous, and I'm not greedy. The only problem I have is that I just don't trust _you_," Zuko moved the hilts a little further apart still, "but you are my sister, and we should try to get along, so we're going to come to a new arrangement: We let others do the heavy lifting of conquest, we deal with father afterwards and split the empire. That's how it will be because I'm keeping your little earthbender pets, one here in the palace dungeon, the other somewhere _safe_. They are going to be my insurance policy against anymore of your tricks. We're going to play happy family for a few more weeks, or I'm going to be an only child like I always wanted to be. Agreed?"

Azula was seething mad and spoke with her eyes as much as her voice, "This is not over."

"It is for today," Zuko smirked back, "I'm going to take care of our guests. Another guard should be around in an hour or so to help you out, be sure to let him know how careless you are with sharp objects."

**Three Weeks Before Cometfall**

The losses for the Fire Nation on the Day of the Black Sun could have been a lot worse if it wasn't for Azula's earthbender allies, but that was not nearly enough to improve the mood around the palace. The idea of losing Ba Sing Se was almost a certainty beforehand and was taken in stride, but it was two other massive defeats that really caused uproar: The Earth King's so-called Free Army decimated the Fire Nation's main force at the battle of Full Moon Bay, and a surprise attack by King Bumi. The captured leader had retaken the key strategic city of New Ozai from _inside_ his prison cell almost single-handedly.

Zuko lurked in the back of the war room continuing his efforts to avoid his father's attention watched Azula receive faint praise for her efforts from the ageing cadre of High Generals. She looked pleased, but Zuko knew that she was far from happy. Her own plan had her on the throne by now, and here she was, further from her goal than ever. When Zuko caught her eye he put a finger up to his lips, and smiled, but instead of a look of anger, she smirked back. _What is she up to_ Taking his leave, Zuko passed back into the hall where the two people he'd been trying to avoid all summer were waiting for him.

"There he is, just like Azula said he'd be," Ty Lee said, lying on her back with her legs up against the wall.

"Doesn't she get tired of being right all the time?" Mai groused, her arms folded into her massive robe, looking away.

Zuko turned to leave, "I don't have time for you two now." _I really don't, _Zuko thought_, I have to meet with Chef Tso at the Order safehouse._

Ty Lee pushed off the wall with her feet and rolled face first, upside down, and somehow came to stand in Zuko's way, "Oh don't be like that, we miss you," she lowered the tone of her voice to mock whisper, "_Mai_ misses you."

"I do not."

"This is no time for games," Zuko let his frustration get the best of him again.

"Oh there's always time to play games," Mai interjected.

_What did she say?_ Zuko silently panicked, _could she possibly know? How?_ Zuko took a moment to calm himself. _No, there's no why she would know about the Order, but I can't risk raising any suspicions at this point, _"All right then, tell me what kind of game is Azula playing now?"

"Oh its fun, you'll like it."

A few minutes later the trio was outside of the palace dungeon, and a sick feeling came over Zuko. _Why are they taking me to see her?_ A single jailor went from sleepy and bored, to nervous and scared, as he wordlessly handed over his keys to a sneering Mai. After she unlocked the entrance, they descended down into the dark hallways, the walls and the floors were wet with underground moisture and the stink of mold was the only respite from the smell of bodies decaying alive.

In the last cell on the left Mai opened the heavy iron door to reveal the Earth Kingdom girl who Zuko last saw aboard Azula's ship. She was lying on a bare cot welded into the side of the cell wearing a pale red prisoner's smock. The entire length of her arms and legs were covered in dirty bandages that showed signs of bleed through in a dozen different places. _What are they doing to her, _Zuko thought as he and Mai stepped in side by side_, have they lost their minds?_

But before Zuko could say a single word, the girl hopped up and quickly, although clearly gingerly, assumed a fighting stance in the back of the cell. Mai quickly drew three long knives from her robes and held them up, reflecting the minuscule slit of light that came from a two inch high window at the top of the cell, "Now, now little Suki, haven't you learned that it's hopeless? Every time you try and resist and every time you fail. It's not like your getting any stronger in here, am I right?"

Suki held fast for a moment, and then dropped her guard, hanging her head down.

"Very good," Mai continued, "as you can see we brought a friend this time and…"

Before she could finished her thought, Suki dashed forward at Zuko and was about to deliver a desperate blow to his face when an arm clad in pink snaked out of nowhere and stopped the attack in its place. Suki was still for a moment, before collapsing and clutching her side. She shuffled to the back corner of the cell, her knees up to her chest.

"That's more like it." Mai turned to face Zuko as Ty Lee hopped about trying to get a better look at the prisoner.

_What is going on here, _Zuko thought_, this is madness!_

Mai continued, "Little Suki here is a _fan_ of the Avatar, she's the one that helped us conquer Ba Sing Se," she looked down at her, "aren't you? Earth Kingdom dirt worshippers are so weak. Once she served her purpose, Azula let us keep her." Mai leaned in close, Ty Lee stuck her head in as well, "Just between you and me, I think Azula can be a bit of a handful, but she's royalty so what can we do? So every once in a while we play little games down here, don't we?"

Zuko tried not to throw up. Ty Lee started to giggle as she spoke, "Azula she's so smart, and clever, and nice, well not nice-nice, you know what I mean…"

"Really I don't…" Zuko tried to cut her off.

"So anyway, she said, just the other day, after somehow I...well…_we_ really Mai, you did it too, slept though something important, that we, not just I, make sure to include you with us, the next time we paid this place a visit! Azula is _so _smart, did I say that already? Uh…she's sosmartI didn't even think she knew that we were coming here at all, but there's no getting anything past her!"

"Azula told us of the murder of your beloved uncle, we told her that we were sorry to have missed it. So she, being _as_ gracious as you _know_ she is," _Mai's sarcasm toward her 'friend' had gotten so thick it's getting hard to breathe, _Zuko thought as she continued "has decided, as her want to do, to kill two birds with one stone: allow you to demonstrate your skill for us on one who's usefulness is at an end."

_It's another test; Azula wants me to kill this girl in cold blood to prove my commitment. Mai and Ty Lee went along with this…what has happened to them?_

"I know what you're think-ing!" Ty Lee said in a sing-song voice that clashed badly with the atmosphere.

Zuko glanced at Suki before turning to Ty Lee; _we're talking about her life while she's standing right there!_

"Don't worry," Ty Lee continued, "Azula said that she would do the exact same things to us if the situations were reversed, so that makes it okay, that's what Azula said, and she is always right!"

_Ty Lee's always been a bit flaky, _Zuko recalled_, but now she's totally lost her mind, and Mai is acting like she doesn't have a soul. What kind of control does Azula have over these two? It doesn't matter, I have no choice, I just can't let anyone doubt me so close to the end._

Zuko ignited a large ball of flame in his hand and slowly approached the Earth Kingdom girl. Suki had backed herself into the corner of the cell, her eyes wide, searching for a way out. Zuko then spread the flame out, whirling it around the tiny cell, never taking his eyes off Suki's as hers followed the line of fire back and forth as it licked the cell walls. He saw her flinch each time they drew close before pulling the fire into both hands and just before thrusting the concentrated blast, he allowed it to dissipate inches from Suki's body.

"No," Zuko said, dropping his hands.

"You're not going to do it?" Ty Lee sounded very disappointed, "Azula was right, again," she sighed, "you haven't really changed."

"What a bore," Mai added, and only one who knew her very well could discern her mood by her tone of voice, "showing such weakness to the enemy makes me wonder where your loyalties lay."

Zuko turned to face the pair. "Mai," he said, intoning anger, "before I killed him, one thing I learned from that fossil is that to _never_ confuse wisdom…" Zuko then spun around and struck Suki on the side of her head with full force. The Earth Kingdom warrior tumbled and collided awkwardly with the metal cot before landing on the ground, "…with weakness."

Zuko grabbed Mai by the arm, and after yelling at Ty Lee to close the cell door, dragged her out of the dungeon and to the surface. Zuko then seized the stunned Mai's other arm and pulled her close, very close, to his body. She blushed softly to be in such close proximity to her childhood crush, but her eyes stayed locked on to his. "Listen to me, Mai," he said in a low, soft voice, "I always thought that you are loyal to the Fire Nation, but since when did you switch your allegiance to Princess Azula?"

"I…I…" Mai stammered in protest, but she was caught off guard. Ty Lee emerged from the dungeon and upon seeing the scene began to giggle and twirl around.

"Don't you remember why this prisoner was brought here? The Avatar. He is coming here to destroy my Father and the Fire Nation, and he has allies, powerful ones. But they have weaknesses. Their loyalty to their friends is greater then the destinies that they think that they have, my sister and I proved that in Old Ba Sing Se. As a corpse, that worthless girl is a _martyr_ to them, as a prisoner she is an_ asset_ tous. Do you understand?" With that Zuko gently let Mai go, letting his hands tenderly run down the lengths of her arms.

If Mai even noticed that she was free to, she didn't move back away from the Prince, "What about Azula?"

"Azula doesn't matter, tell her, or don't, lie to her, or don't. She wants you to follow her orders, but what are you getting out of it? In her mind someday she'll be Fire Lady and what will you be? Forever her servant." Zuko reached up to brush a non-existent hair off of Mai's cheek, "but fortunes change, and there could be a new Fire _Lord_, one with a world to rule but no one to share it with. Think about it," Zuko pressed his lips against Mai's briefly, turned and walked away.

_I can never repay the debt I owe to people like Song, young Lee and Jin or undo the damage I've done to people like Katara, _Zuko mused_, but if I can just get this Suki through the next few weeks alive…I…I only hope she got the message._

Zuko put his disturbing detour out of his mind for now and headed out using the same overlooked construction drainage tunnel, one hundred years free of use, and into the city. His cloak and hood right where he left it, Zuko cut a purposely indirect path to the Order's local chapter where he was ushered inside with much less fanfare then before.

"Your Highness is late," the dry-voiced man said with equal parts respect and distain.

"I was unavoidably detained, let's not waste more time discussing it," Zuko had long given up wondering what the man's name was, and the pair got along as well as two people forced to work together to save each other's lives could be.

"They're ready in the back," He gestured with his thumb over his shoulder as he always did and Zuko gave him no further thought.

Through another shabby curtain/door a circle on the floor was swept clean, and four incense burners smoked away, billowing scent in white strings like thread caught in an updraft. Zuko sniffed warily, _jasmine, always the jasmine_. Walking to the center of the circle, he flung off his cloak away and pulled off his shirt. Sitting down cross-legged he wiped an arm across his face to remove any trace of the taste of Mai's lips from his, and began a slow steady pattern of breathing. Zuko closed his eyes and forced himself to focus on the moment.

"Now you see how quickly he's able to center himself?" Zuko could hear Chef Tso whisper to another Order member in the room. _Breathe_, Zuko thought.

"He's been getting closer and closer each day."

_Breathe…_

"I've seen to it that his diet matched that of his uncle…"

_Breathe…_

"This will work the same way it did for him…

_Breathe…_

"You see they share a special bond…"

_Breathe…_

"…not exactly the same since he was the one that…"

"TRYING TO MEDITATE HERE!" Zuko yelled.

"Sorry."

Hours passed in absolute silence. Focus was a necessity; there was a path that would lead him to the spirit world that his actions had created for him, if he could find it. Zuko concentrated only on the smell of jasmine, until he could not only smell it, but both feel it and taste it. He had been at this point before, so close to gaining total control over his physical being. The sheer act of concentration caused sweat to pour off of him, making his body ache as if he'd run a hundred miles in the blazing sun. His mind felt as if it was being pressed between stones, the pain unimaginable, but he had to maintain control.

"Control of the body is the key to the gate of the spirit," his uncle would tell him.

_I know uncle; you've told me that a thousand times_, Zuko let a thought escape.

"Of course I have, but its good advice and it bears repeating."

"Uncle?!?" Zuko opened his eyes to find himself in a different world. Darting his head around, he saw that the sky was orange and he was standing in an infinite span of grassy plain. The ground moved quickly below him even though he wasn't moving. It was flowing like a horizontal waterfall into what looked like a distant storm of red clouds. He looked back up to see the spectral form of his uncle, "what happened?"

"You did it nephew, just as I knew you could, you have crossed over into the Spirit World."

Zuko felt the kind of elation that he could hardly ever remember having, with a big smile on his face he stepped forward to embrace his mentor, but his joy was short lived. Iroh was a spirit and therefore Zuko passed right through him, causing the spectral form to dissipate slightly. Zuko looked down at his empty hands and sighed, "I'm sorry Uncle."

Iroh's form coalesced with him standing in the opposite direction, facing Zuko's back. "Nephew, you must not blame yourself, few people have the opportunity to choose their own end, and fewer still meet their end in the pursuit of a noble cause. Do not blame yourself, it didn't even hurt!" He finished with a large smile, trying to lighten the mood, knowing that cheering up Zuko was the only task more daunting than the one they faced.

"Have you found them?" Zuko replied evenly, now down to business.

"Yes…and no," Iroh replied, sounding frustrated, "I have found my son's spirit once again, but this world is somehow much different than it was all those years ago. We shared the fear of the dark force that the Order felt was growing much stronger, and not just because of the approach of the comet."

"The Avatar," Zuko's fists balled up at the thought of the young Airbender that held power over all of their fates.

"That is correct. He is here now, in the Spirit World, but he is surrounded in the darkness. I dare not try to contact him myself, lest our plan be exposed, so Lu Ten is trying to get word to him now."

"This darkness, is it who the Order thought it was?" Zuko asked.

"Yes, it appears that our fears were well founded, time has not tempered ambition. His desire for control could doom both worlds. The Avatar is learning this lesson only now I'm afraid, it will be up to him to overcome the truth and be ready to face both the enemy of your world and the enemy of mine. As the bridge between the worlds, it is his destiny."

"Destiny…" Zuko grumbled, "I use to think _I_ was its master, now I know it's not just out of my control but in the hands of a child."

"Don't be jealous Zuko; fate has pressed a heavy burden onto small shoulders. Events were set in motion one hundred years ago, and we are now just playing our parts, but that doesn't mean we do not have any control. It is the choices we make and the ones we don't make that allow destiny to unfold. Fate is the path laid out though the woods, but it is up to us to walk that path in our own way."

_Even dead he tires to confound me with riddles and proverbs_, Zuko thought.

"I happen to like proverbs, they make me sound wise." Iroh replied to his nephew's rumination.

"Uh, sorry." Zuko apologized. _This place is weird._

"You're telling me." He replied again, "but nevermind that. You need to go, it's not healthy for you to be here too long, you'll attract the wrong kind of attention, and you don't want to know what I mean…" Iroh trailed off.

"Who's Koh?" Zuko asked.

Iroh was shocked for a second, then smiled, "It works both ways, that's good to know. Don't worry about him...her..._it_. Just go, and come back each day until we can make contact with the Avatar."

"I will uncle."

"Good, take care nephew and say hello to Chef Tso for me, I may have lost my mortal shell, but not my taste for his special pigchicken." Iroh laughed as Zuko focused on returning to his mortal body.

Remembering the pain and stress he was under, Zuko opened his eyes again to see that he was back in the Order safehouse. Exhausted, he flopped backwards on the dusty floor, "Pigchicken tonight, Tso, we are going to celebrate."

**Cometfall**

Zuko had never flown before, and the found the experience both exhilarating and terrifying, but not to the point that he was going to let his current companions know how he felt. He sat on the left side of the small platform that was strapped to the Sky Bison's back. Sitting on the head was the Avatar, his staff lying across his lap as he held on to the beast's reigns; that winged rat on his shoulder. Across from him were the siblings from the Water Tribe: the boy, who had not sheathed his machete since they met in the ruins on Crescent Island, and the Waterbender girl, Katara.

Zuko kept his head down for the first part of the flight, adjusting to the wind blowing in his face, but he kept his eyes fixated on her. She stared straight forward, but he caught her several time glancing in his direction. Feeling a bit more comfortable, he looked up at her. _I'm sorry, _he thought, desperate to find a way to share his feelings out loud_, I had no choice at the time, and I didn't mean to hurt you._ Katara finally looked over with anger in her face, staring daggers for a long time, but after a while he face seemed to soften, but her eyes remained narrow. _If you only knew what I've had to do to reach this point, what I've given up, I know I can't make up for all of it, but whenever I pictured the face of the people I've hurt, I see your face, and I need to know that it's not a face of anger._

They stared into each other's eyes, and when Katara finally let a small smile show, Zuko audibly let off a sigh of relief. As he looked away and towards their destination he caught the boy rolling his eyes and putting his weapon away.

With the sun shining and the wind in his hair Zuko smiled. _I feel at peace, there is no more past to dwell on, only the future to live in. It's time to end this war._

To be concluded.

Next: The secret of Cometfall is revealed and the final battle for the fate of the world begins. It's _Aang: the Avatar_. Cometfall is now.

_(Author's note: Suki's horrifying ordeal can be found in the anthology collection "Tales of Cometfall" elsewhere on this site, please note that it is not recommended for young readers.)_


	5. Chapter 5: Aang, The Avatar

Chapter 5: Aang, the Avatar

**Three Weeks Before Cometfall **

Aang sat atop the Earth King's Palace in the same spot he watched the Sun escape the last grasp of the Moon one week ago on The Day of the Black Sun.

"I failed, Momo," he told the clever Winged Lemur that he valued among his allies. But of all of his friends, he knew that Momo was the most oblivious to the situation, and therefore the best candidate to confess his sins to. The lemur busied himself with a new found fascination for the fine tile that covered the palace roof, finally pulling one free and causing him to tumble down the roof's slope. "Not only has the best opportunity to defeat the Fire Lord passed, but my Avatar powers are now almost completely gone."

Aang thought back over the past nine weeks since their flight from Ba Sing Se. A summer spent on the run, first just to find a safe place to hide from the bounty hunters, then to find the Resistance, then meeting up with Sokka and Katara's father, forming the Free Army, the loss of Bato and the King's bear Bosco. All of which lead to the liberation of the Earth Kingdom Capitol.

"All this time and pain, just to leave us back where we started!" Enraged, Aang pounded his hands on the roof and sent tiles flying off in all directions with a gust of wind. _I don't know what to do now, _he thoughtfeeling rudderless_, why have my powers failed me, and why can't I enter the Avatar state or even reach the Spirit World?_ Aang laid back and covered his eyes with his arm. It was then that he heard a short scurrying noise followed by a dragging sound alternating over and over again.

Aang sat up, "Momo, what are you doing?" The lemur, who had been pulling Aang's tan cloth bag, dove his head inside and pulled out a banana and an onion.

"Food, huh? Well it always cheers Sokka up." Aang stared directly into Momo's eyes and the lemur glared back, as if trying to communicate something. _A banana and an onion…bananas and onions…"_The Guru!"

Aang bounded to the edge of the roof with a big smile, he grabbed one whole tile and a shard of another and scathed a simple message into its face 'Guru –Aang' and used his power to float the tile gently down in front of the palace door. Fishing the bison whistle from under his tunic, Aang gave it a strong blow and moments later he, Appa and Momo were off for the Eastern Air Temple.

_I'll find the Guru and he can help me get my bending back_, Aang repeated to himself over and over while driving Appa harder and faster then he ever had._ This is going to work, it has to! _

Aang arrived while the sun still hung low in the sky. _Wow, _he thought_, I hope Appa's all right. _He turned to look at his longtime companion, who had immediately fallen asleep on his side with three of his huge paws in the air_. I got here a lot faster then the first time I came. No, that wasn't the first time; I've been here dozens of times. I lived here for years surrounded by my people. This was my home. _Aang looked out over the temple, once comprised of gleaming white towers, now a moss covered ruin. Momo, sensing his friend's sadness, scurried up Aang's body and sat on his shoulder, "Ruins, that's all that's left Momo," Aang looked back at Appa again, "That's all we are now, three more fragments of the past."

Aang looked down in sadness and flipped his glider-staff open, after a short running start he soared up into the air. The young Avatar wound his way around the temple's spires, looking for any sign of the old spiritualist. _It's getting dark; maybe he's sleeping inside_, Aang thought before spotting a familiar shape atop a high cliff. It was Pathik, sitting cross-legged and still, looking out towards the vast mountain range.

Aang landed behind him, folded his staff and set it down on the ground. He gave a short, respectful bow to the old man's back before carefully approached him, "Guru Pathik, I…" Aang trailed off, _what do I say to him?_ _ He volunteered to help me, and I turned my back on him,_ "It's me, Aang, I'm sorry but I really need your help,"

The guru gave no response. _He's really mad at me,_ Aang thought as he moved closer. "Time is running out, and I'm losing all my bending powers! You've got to help me!" The silence was now starting to frustrate Aang, who felt his anger rise, "The world in danger!" He yelled; now close enough to put a hand on the Guru's shoulder. "Aren't you listening, you have to-"Aang pulled the Guru around and was immediately struck silent at what he saw and fell backwards in horror.

The Guru was dead, and had been so for some time. His face was shriveled. His lips curled under themselves revealing his teeth in a ghastly smile. His eyes were yellow and had shrunk into their sockets. Aang's touch had cased the body to fall over backwards, and Pathik's skull collided on the stone floor with a sickening thud.

Aang began to panic, his eyes wide and his breathing shallow. He started to see the world go white around the edges and then suddenly realty broke apart and he was transported elsewhere.

_The Spirit World, but how?_ Aang asked himself as he looked around at the dense brown and orange jungle scene that he remembered from his previous visits_. It looks the same but there is something…darker about it_. He took two steps before stumbling into something lying on the ground, Aang looked down and immediately pushed his arms forward as if to blow the sight away with airbending.

It was the Guru, laying flat on the ground without a face. _Koh_, Aang said angrily his fists balled, _Koh killed him_. Aang's first thought was of revenge, which scared him when he remembered the teachings of the Air Nomad monks: that anger only begets more anger. _How does that help!_ He yelled at himself in frustration, _all of my people are dead, slaughtered, and the last connection I have to them is gone now too, what am I supposed to do? Pretend it didn't happen?_ Aang was so confused, so torn up inside, that he barely heard the tell-tale clicking sound before it was too late.

"I can feel your rage, let me see it!" Koh announced, springing up from behind Aang. The face stealing demon was a fearsome sight. His onyx carapace seemed to glow with darkness, and his many, many tiny legs constantly twitched and clattered against each other. Koh's 'face' was a constantly changing gallery of people he'd murdered and for now it was a black mask with blue lips and jagged white teeth.

Aang didn't know if this was his true face, or one he stole long ago from another fearsome creature. All he knew was he had to maintain an expressionless visage, or risk losing his and ending up like Pathik.

"You miss your friend," he chattered out, "I _didn't_," Koh's mask-face slid away and was replaced by the familiar wrinkles of the Guru, "He's my friend now too, aren't you jealous?"

Koh's voice emanating from the Guru's face made Aang feel hollow inside. He wanted to shout, to fight, to burn Koh off the face of the world with just his anger, but he could do nothing. _What can I do, _he thought_, even the slightest bit of aggression would be a disaster_. "I don't care." Aang lied flatly.

"Oh!" Koh exclaimed in mock outrage, "You've hurt your friend's feelings. I can hear him you know, inside of me. I can hear him screaming."

Aang began to shake; he had no way out and felt less and less inclined to get away. Despair now mixed with his anger. _Without the Guru, I can't restore my powers, and now I'm trapped with this monster. Maybe I'm too weak to defeat the Fire Lord, but I can at least rid the world of one evil. He'd kill me, but I'd do the same to him. _Aang readied himself for his final fight when a voice thundered from behind him.

"Be gone, monster!"

Koh's hundred legs seized up and went quiet, and just as suddenly has he appeared, Koh vanished, skittering away down a hole. Aang immediately hunched over and put his hands on his knees, sighing with relief. After he caught his breath he turned to look his benefactor.

"Hello Aang,"

"Avatar Roku!" Aang shouted with glee, "It's so good to see you, I thought…"

"That your earlier defeat had destroyed the Avatar Spirit? No."

"Then what's happening? I can't earthbend and I can barely waterbend anymore! Time is running out, and the eclipse is over!" Aang's voice pleaded for some kind of answer.

Ruko was quiet for a long time. "Walk with me Aang," the former Avatar turned and began to move away, floating more then walking. Aang followed. They seemed to leave the jungle quickly and moved into what looked like an open plain. In the distance a wall of dark clouds rose up from the ground continuously. As they approached, Ruko began to speak again, "Tell me young one…do you miss your people?"

The Last Airbender stopped walking, stunned slightly by the unexpected question. "No, I mean, yes…I mean I try not to let it bother me, I don't let it block my chakras," he said softly.

"This has nothing to do with the…internal blocking of energy." He replied, sounding paternal, "It has to do with fate."

"Fate?" Aang asked, bewildered. Aang's arm began to itch, and he rubbed it subconsciously.

"All living things seek to control their own destines. They seek fortunes, they better their minds or their bodies, they seize power and they start wars. But it is impossible for one to tell if they are truly a master of their fate, or merely a slave to it."

"I don't understand," _Aang said, confused,_ "what are you trying to say?"

"Aang…I made a mistake a long time ago. You do not remember me telling you about it, but there was a time when I was obsessed with power." The old Avatar's ghost appeared to look wistful, "Over one hundred years ago I made an amazing discovery. One that promised to deliver unto me ultimate power. So I, with the help of a friend, sought out a way to harness this energy, using a unique structure located in a unique place. When the day came we were successful, but I was betrayed."

"No…" Aang was shocked, _this can't be happening, tell me it's not the Avatar's fault, my fault. _Aang's arm began to sting, but he ignored it.

"Yes, Aang. My friend was Fire Lord Sozin, and he used the comet I discovered to start the war, and to end my life."

"It can't be."

Ruko then resumed his regal posture and addressed Aang directly, "I had forgotten that it is the job…the destiny…of the Avatar to maintain a balance between the Four Nations. My actions have upset that balance and it must be rectified. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I have to defeat the Fire Lord before the comet returns again."

"That is both true and false. As I said before, a Fire Nation victory will cement the imbalance, but so will a defeat."

"What do you mean?" _I feel like an idiot. Why won't he just explain what is going on, I don't have much time…aahhh…what is wrong with my arm?_

"What is important is that the comet's power is not used for conquest, but to bring balance between _all four_ nations." Ruko intoned heavily to make his point.

_Now I'm really confused_. "How will the comet do that? The Air Nomads are all…" Aang felt a cold chill run up his spine.

"Dead."

Aang was sure he'd throw up if he was in the physical world; his arm now felt like it was burning, "No! I won't!"

"You will use the comet's power to bring balance to the Four Nations, it's your destiny."

"To kill countless people? That's crazy!"

"I thought you might be hesitant, that is why I have sealed your powers. Children can be so unreasonable."

"You did this to me?" Aang was angrier then he had ever been. His own prior self caused the war that annihilated his people and was now expecting him to do the same to everybody else.

"Yes, I will release your full powers when the time is right, and then you and I will restore the world to balance."

"You _and_ I?"

"Yes, I realize that you maybe hesitant, so I will…aid you."

"I won't do it, I'll…"

"You'll do what you are fated to do. You will fight the Fire Lord, or your friends will surely die in the attempt without you, and then," Roku's spectral form the burst into flames and his voice carried the weight of all of the Avatars before him, "You will bring balance to the world! Destiny demands it!"

"NO!" Aang shouted as he fled from Roku in a panic, in entirety of what the old Avatar had told him echoing in his mind at once. Aang passed into the dark wall of clouds and immediately became disorientated. It suddenly felt like he was running uphill, then down. He was falling, flying, floating and all he really wanted to do was scream when suddenly he felt a hand grab him by the shoulder and pull him free.

In a grassy plain, where white clouds rose from the ground as if they were flowers, a young man held both of Aang's shoulders until he clamed down. "Be still Avatar, you are safe from Ruko here."

Aang looked at his benefactor. His face was sharp but his eyes were warm and wise. _He looks familiar_, Aang thought catching his mental breath, before looking down and noticing the young man's dark red Fire Nation armor. "Who are you?"

"I'm a friend, but we do not have time to talk now, you are in danger."

"You just said I was safe!"

"From Ruko, not from _time_, you need to go back to your body, now!"

"Wait, why are you helping me?"

"I will explain everything when the time is right. Gather your strength and meet me back here."

_Gather my strength? I don't have any strength, not anymore!_ Aang was getting a little tired of be told what to do, and was about to share that thought when the young man disappeared. Bewildered, Aang looked around before noticing that the dark wall had begun to move and grow towards him. The Avatar backed up, not wanting to experience the effects of the darkness again. When his arm began throb with pain again it dawned on Aang what it meant. _Pain, I'm not supposed to feel it in the Spirit World, it must be coming from my body…I have to use it._

Aang focused on the pain, and let it overtake him. Soon it was all he could perceive, burning his body and mind until he began to scream. The world went white.

**Two Weeks Before Cometfall**

Aang awoke in a fit of hoarse, dry coughing. His mouth felt like it was full of sand, his eyes burned with dryness, and every muscle ached as if he'd been running for hours. He stared down at the arm that had caused him so much pain, but allowed him to escape; it was covered in a series of small holes cut into his flesh. _What happened? Who did this?_ Aang strained to touch them, some looked fresh, but others look like they are almost healed. _How long was I trapped in the Spirit World? Hours? Days?_

As he strained to sit up, Momo appeared and immediately begin to skitter around. Aang stared at his friend with his weak eyes, "Momo," he croaked out, rubbing his arm, "…thank you."

Aang used nearly the last of his strength to blow his bison whistle, and after draining his waterskin, instructed his hairy friend to fly anywhere else in the temple, anywhere away from what was left of the Guru. Aang fell asleep and in a dream he watched himself setting ablaze everything in sight. Everywhere people were running for their lives, but they stood no chance. Aang would wave his arm and they would burn as if made of dry grass. Horrified, he left his body and turned around to see that he had no face. Aang grabbed the abomination by its throat and desperately tried to choke it to death. The faceless Aang began to laugh before it grew Ruko's face, and then changed to Aang's before it disappeared entirely. The dream world then became extremely bright, and Aang looked up to see a comet coming directly at him. The massive object came closer and closer, but the only voice Aang could hear was the sound of a crying baby.

Aang was jolted awake by the impact of Appa landing outside the old living quarters. _No, it was two crying babies_, he thought, hoping to separate which parts of his dream were prophetic and which were just nightmare. Sliding down off the saddle, Aang rubbed Appa behind the ear in thanks then moved inside and after weakly dusting off an old pile of blankets, fell back asleep.

**One Week Before Cometfall**

Aang spent the better part of the week recovering from his ordeal in the Spirit World_. I don't think I have ever seen my hair that long_, he thought, rubbing his freshly shaved skull. _I have to get back, either way, I just can't abandon my friends. _Aang stepped outside and boarded Appa for the long flight back to the palace.

The palace lobby had come to life after they had retaken the city. Servants both civil and domestic now bustled between rooms carrying stacks of scrolls or dishes. Aang for a moment enjoyed the sound of life, until more and more of them noticed his presence and went silent. _I'm never going to get used to that, _he thought_, just a year ago, or should I say one hundred and one years ago, I could travel the world and only garner the occasional surprised glance. Now I'm the Avatar, and the only Airbender left. It's like my arrow now only means 'look at freak.' Well, if they want to gawk, I'll give them something to gawk at, they'll be sorry they_…Aang then realized that he was creating a small windstorm inside the lobby, sending scrolls flying and people sliding.

Stunned and embarrassed at himself, Aang dashed out of the lobby and deeper into the palace with a wind assist. _What was that? I've lost my bending, am I losing control of myself too? Is this Roku's doing? _

Not wanting to bother the King, Aang cornered a functionary and inquired about his friends. Many shouted questions and answers later, Aang was told that they were not in the palace. In fact they were each off doing what they could for the city and the war. _Of course they are,_ Aang thought, _did I really think they'd be sitting around the palace waiting for me? It's not like I've been all that useful lately. It was Sokka who defeated Colonel Mongke, it was Katara who saved Foggy Bottom Swamp from the Firebenders sent to destroy it, and Toph was the one who bridged the Great Divide and saved the Free Army._

Aang slogged back outside, ignoring the now frightened lobby crowd. Flipping a hidden switch on his glider-staff, Aang soared up sharply and made a beeline for the coast. The city rushed beneath him, growing more squalid and packed with people every moment. Then suddenly he was over the inner wall and out over the massive farms that filled the space between the walls and fed the packed metropolis. When Aang reached the outer wall he pulled upward sharply against the stone edifice and soared over the top and past the waterfall that drained what river water had escaped the city.

Just a short distance away Aang could see a massive row of grey and blue ships that made up the Water Tribe Navy lining the beaches of Chameleon Bay. _Hakoda's ship would be the largest, _he thought_, and Sokka would be with his father. _Aang circled the largest craft a few times before he spotted the familiar shape of his friend, standing about a thousand paces back from the beach. _Not standing, something's wrong, he's got his machete out._

Aang pulled in the front wings of his glider and nosed downward, picking up speed. Closer now, he saw that Sokka was surrounded by several warriors in green, two were attacking him bare handed while three others were pelting him with small rocks. Just before landing he pulled up and used airbending to cancel his forward momentum allowing himself to land hard onto the ground, right next his friend. The impact sent a powerful ring of air outward from them, knocking the attackers down.

"Sokka! I'm here to help!" Aang pronounced, feeling useful at last.

"Aang! I'm not…" Sokka was saying something but Aang wasn't listening, he jabbed his staff forward and sent one attacker who had nearly reached her feet flying backwards. Aang kicked his feet off the ground and let the wind spin him around. He was about to drop a column of air down on another one when Sokka stepped in front of him with his arms out and his face turned away, anticipating absorbing an attack with his body.

The Avatar stopped himself before he could hurt his friend. Sokka opened one eye and then the other when he knew it was safe, letting a sigh of relief escape his lips. "Aang! I appreciate your _enthusiastic_ help, but we were only training!"

"Training?" Aang felt his face go red.

"Yes, you remember the Kyoshi Warriors?" Sokka asked.Aang looked around as five girls got up off the ground and dusted themselves off, looking at the Avatar with a bemused expressions on their faces, "I'm sorry ladies, let's pick this up again a little later."

The fighting women of Kyoshi moved back towards the beach. A couple of them walked with noticeable limps, another had a hand completely bandaged.

"Don't worry, you didn't do that," Sokka said. _He noticed me staring_, Aang thought. Sokka continued, "They are much better then they were three weeks ago, but they're not back to normal, what ever that is, and won't be for some time." Aang watched the typically upbeat warrior slump to the ground. _Tired from the day's exercise, and something else, _Aang thought.

Aang didn't want to ask the question that was on his mind, but he had to know what was bothering his friend, "Any news on Suki?"

Sokka slid his machete back into its scabbard on his back, "Nothing…but…" he replied.

Aang waited a moment to see if he would finish his thought, "But what?"

"You're going to think I'm crazy."

"I already _know_ you're crazy," Aang replied, causing them both to smile for the first time in what seemed like forever.

"On the Day of the Black Sun…I looked up at the eclipse, and that hurt by the way, make sure never to do that. I looked up and I saw Yue."

"You mean the moon," Aang tried to clarify. He had heard his friend call the moon by the name of the princess who had sacrificed her life to restore it to the heavens several times, and worried that Sokka would never stop blaming himself for what happened.

"No, _I mean Princess Yue_, and we talked for what felt like forever, but it only lasted a moment, you know what I mean?"

Aang put a hand to his throat, remembering how dry it had been after he awoke from his longer then expected stay in the spirit world, "Yeah."

"Well, it was like a dream, and I can't remember it all, but one thing that's burned into my mind was a…I don't know…a _vision_ of Suki looking up at me from some dark place. There was pain and sadness, but she was_ alive_." Sokka laid back on the ground and covered his eyes with the heels of his hands, warding himself against emotion. "Its nuts, I know, it doesn't make a bit of sense to believe in what amounts to a day dream, but it feels like all that I've hoped for is just outside my grasp, and I can't reach it." Sokka said, his frustration causing him to pound his fist into the dirt, "What am I supposed to do? Charge headlong into the Fire Nation based on a hallucination? Ignore all we've worked for this past year for revenge on Azula, Ty Lee and Mai, you know it's going to come down to them, only to end up with nothing?"

Aang felt sad for his friend, "I'm sorry Sokka, this is all my fault. Everything I failed to do and all that I did…before. None of this would have happened to you if it wasn't for me."

"No," Sokka said, pushing himself back upright, "Aang don't say that. You can't blame yourself, and I wouldn't trade a minute of the past year for anything." The pair was quiet for a long time, before Sokka stood up and pulled Aang to his feet, "I don't want to wax philosophical, but there is something wrong with a world that asks so much from some one so small." He joked, rubbing Aang's bald head.

"Hey!" Aang said in annoyance.

"Listen, you don't need to worry about me, or Katara, or Toph. All you need to do is what _you _think_ you_ have to. You're the Avatar, and we all believe in you, and after all this you're not just our friend, you're our brother. Our strength is here for you to use."

_Strength, _Aang thought_, gather your strength…it could work, but I'll need all their help, _"Sokka, you're a genius!"

The Water Tribe warrior was taken aback by the unexpected, but nevertheless welcome, complement, "Uhhh, thanks?"

"I need you to go to our house in the Upper Ring. I'm going to get Katara and Toph, and we'll meet you there. It's important."

"Oh, ok, no problem. Do me a favor and go see Toph first, I have an idea and I need to talk to her."

Aang nodded and let his glider lift him up into the sky.

A couple of hours later the four were assembled in the main room of the small Upper Ring house that had lain empty for the months they were away from the city. He hated to have to tell them about the Guru's death, they were already anxious about leaving in the morning with the Royal Army for their desperate invasion of the Fire Nation. _That won't be the only bad news they will get tonight_, he thought_, better try to keep this light._

"Ok, now everybody relax, and close your eyes," he said softly, "this should only take a moment," Aang focused on the face of the young man he'd met, and drew upon strength of his friends until he felt himself go light, and crossed over into the Spirit World faster then he had ever before, "…and there. Here we are! The Spirit World!"

He opened his eyes to the familiar sight of the grassy hill and the vertically flowing clouds. But the peaceful scene was quickly shattered by the sound of Toph screaming. Aang knew what was wrong right away. _ She can see here_. He watched Katara try to comfort her, and he ached to do the same, but they were running out of time. When he saw Katara start to follow Toph out of the room, he called out. "No, Katara, I need you here. I can't maintain the connection without you. We can go after her when we are done, I'm sorry."

The Waterbender shot him a caustic look that somehow made Aang feel even guiltier. _I owe these people so much, and look how I treat them_. The Avatar was distracted from his wallowing by the need to perform the task at hand; he resumed concentrating on the young man he'd met here before, and soon his form appeared out of the rising clouds.

The spirit bowed slightly and spoke first, "Avatar, it is…an honor. My name is Lu Ten. I believe you have met my father."

_His father_, Aang racked his brain, _do I know him?_ _He looks so familiar._ Embarrassed, he could only scratch his head, and apologize, "I'm sorry, I…"

"Stop teasing the boy," A familiar voice called out. It sounded like it came from directly in front of them, but no one could be seen. "You will have to forgive my son," suddenly a wave of cloud wrapped around the spot where the voice was coming from, slowly forming a human shape as he spoke. "Death has not tempered his poor manners," Iroh finished with a smile.

"You!" Sokka exclaimed, stunned to see the Fire Lord's brother appear before them.

"Wait," Aang said, "If you are here, that means…"_ Zuko's uncle is dead? Another casualty of this war…my war._

"Yes, I am no longer burdened with my physical self, and about time, getting old was making it hard to move, and really cramping my style!" He finished with a smile, and while Aang and his friends looked at him with disbelief, his son laughed at his joke.

"Why did you call us here?" Aang asked.

"I will explain everything, but first we are missing one more guest." Iroh went quiet and closed his eyes, moments later another person appeared, but this time he did not form from the clouds, he stepped into view from behind them.

"What are you doing here?" Sokka yelled, reaching for a weapon from behind his back, but was stunned to find that he had made the journey unarmed.

"I'm here to make sure the Fire Nation loses the war, and that no one else has to die." Prince Zuko announced, his eyes narrowed and his fists balled.

"Aang, this is a trap, we need to get out of here!" Katara hunched over and assumed her fighting stance, Aang knew she couldn't bend here, but he also knew that wasn't going to stop her. And Aang wasn't all that convinced that she was wrong.

"Please no!" Lu Ten exclaimed, "We are not enemies!"

"I believed that once, I'm not going to be fooled again." Katara stated.

Iroh's eyes pleaded with his voice, "You must let me explain, so much more is at stake then you know."

_What did he mean by that? What does he know?_ "Tell me what you know, but we're watching you." Aang warned.

Iroh put his hand on his son's shoulder, "It started when my son was…when he died during my siege of Ba Sing Se. I left my command, and retuned to the Fire Nation in disgrace, but that didn't matter. I traveled for years searching for a way, _any_ way for a chance to see him one more time. And with the help of…some friends, I was able to breach the barriers of the Spirit World. Breaching barriers is something I have a knack for!" He said with a smile, expecting a laugh. "I have taught this skill to my nephew and with my son's…resting…near Ba Sing Se, and my own body no doubt laying some kind of state at the palace, we are able to communicate over the vast distance and set a plan in motion."

"Wait a second here," Sokka asked in his inquisitive tone, "You mean to say that because your dead here, no offense," he said pointing at Lu Ten.

"None taken, I've gotten used to it," He replied with a smile, showing again the sense of humor that only exited on Iroh's side of the family.

"And you're dead over there." Sokka moved his finger to Iroh. "Sorry about that, you seemed nice in a…Fire Nation kind of way." Iroh shrugged at the complement. "Because of that, we are able to talk with the angry guy here as if he were in the same room even though he's on the other side of the world."

"That's about it, yes." Iroh said proudly.

"Amazing, a telepathic conversation!" Sokka's eyes were alight with fascination.

"Sounds phony to me," Katara said skeptically, her arms folded.

"No, it is true. Now you must listen closely, all of you." Iroh stated, trying to get back on track. "During my first voyage into this realm I discovered a darkness, something that even a new visitor knew was out of place."

"Ruko," Aang said flatly.

"Yes," Iroh looked down.

"Avatar Ruko?" Sokka asked, confused, "what does he have to do with this?"

Aang felt that he had to confess, "Avatar Ruko is responsible for the war. He told Fire Lord Sozin about the comet, and was killed."

"No…" Katara put her hand to her mouth, and Aang saw her look at him with terror in her eyes. It made him feel dead inside.

"It's true. Katara, Sokka…I'm sorry."

They all were quiet for a moment before Sokka spoke, "We don't blame you Aang. We know you would never do any thing to hurt anyone."

Sokka's words of comfort instead struck Aang like a knife to the heart, he could see it had the same effect on Iroh as well, "You know, don't you?" He asked the old Firebender.

"Yes, so after I left the Spirit World, I knew that somehow I had to find the new Avatar and…stop him, so I joined my nephew's mission in hope that I could avert what was to come."

"Ok, now I'm really confused," Sokka scratched his chin, "you want to stop the Avatar, but you say you're here to help us now?"

Zuko broke his silence in typically angry fashion, "We don't have time to explain everything to you, boy, but I will tell you this: Ruko seeks to use the Comet's power and the body of the current Avatar," he said sneering at Aang, "to murder every living person to achieve his goal of restoring balance between the Four Nations."

"Aang would never go along with that!" Katara yelled.

"The young man will not have a choice," Lu Ten explained, "You have no doubt experienced times when you were possessed by the spirits of previous Avatars?"

_Both Ruko and Kyoshi have done it in the past, _Aang thought_, he's right; I may not have a choice._

"Then…then he won't go," Sokka said, "We can handle it without him."

"No, Sokka," Aang said, "I have to go, I'm the Avatar and it's my responsibility to defeat the Fire Lord."

"This is crazy," Katara exclaimed, "You have to stop the Fire Lord from using the comet's power, and then stop yourself from doing the same? You don't even have your powers!"

"What do you mean you don't have your powers?" Zuko shouted. Aang was hesitant to explain.

Iroh stroked his corporeal beard, "Ruko has sealed your Avatar abilities…he is trying to force you to go along with his plan."

Aang could only hang his head.

"No powers? Do you have any idea what I have done to help you defeat my own father, and now I find out that you're powerless?" Zuko's voice strained with anger.

"No, he still has his Airbendeing," Katara said, trying to bring peace to the discussion.

"Useless!" Zuko threw his hands up in air.

"No!" Iroh stated, "The candle succumbs to the teacup, he will not need the other bending forms. When the time is right the young Avatar will know what to do. Now we do not have much time, Ruko is powerful here, and we can not be discovered. Nephew, please share the plan."

"Yes, Uncle," Zuko said with a heavy load of bitterness, "My allies and I know that you are leaving at dawn for a surprise invasion of the Fire Nation. Don't worry, my father probably doesn't know it is coming, and either way he won't care. With the comet's power, the Fire Army will obliterate any attempt to breach our homeland's shores."

_He said that a little too boastfully, _Aang thought_, I can only hope he's showing pride in his people, not in his father._

"Your forces will not deviate from that plan. The only change will be that the three of you," Zuko said sweeping his finger over Aang, Katara and Sokka, "Will meet me on Crescent Island. I have arranged for the palace guard to be…occupied…and the Avatar will have a clear path to my father."

"So that is it huh?" Katara said bitterly, "You're really going to help us, or have you 'changed' again?"

Zuko looked down at the reminder of his betrayal of Katara's trust in the ruins of Old Ba Sing Se. "What I did in the cave was what I had to do. My uncle told me the truth only after we met. About his…allies, the truth about Sozin, and about Ruko's plan. And he believed in the Avatar enough to…sacrifice his own life to stop what is coming." Zuko looked on the verge of tears.

Aang was struck at how vulnerable Zuko looked in that moment compared to all the times they had faced him in combat. _It was like when I first met his sister, when Iroh was injured_, he thought

Zuko continued, "You can go ahead and hate me, but you must trust me, the lives of my people are at stake, and that is who I have wanted to protect from the beginning. If that is not enough reason for you…there is an Earth Kingdom girl here, I've done everything in my power to keep her alive, but she will not survive if we do nothing, and she will meet the same fate as everyone else in the world if we fail."

"Suki!" Sokka shouted, "She's alive!" He turned to face Aang, "If you're not going, I am."

"I'm not letting my brother go alone," Katara said.

"A slave to fate," Aang mumbled to himself. _Is that what Ruko meant? That we end up having no choice at all?_ "It's decided then. Time to finish this."

**Cometfall**

Seven days later, Appa swam alongside the Earth Navy's flagship, his six legs gently pushing him along. Sokka removed the last of their traveling supplies from the large saddle. There was only one last journey ahead of them now.

"You guys be careful, I'm not going to be there to watch your back," Toph joked and the assembled smiled.

Aang was glad to her smile again. After her experience in the Spirit World and the task she had ahead of her it gave him hope to think that things would turn out alright for everyone.

"You try to leave us a few Firebenders for when we're done, ok?" Sokka mussed the young officer's hair. With the fact that it getting in her eyes wasn't an issue, her hair was the only thing that still looked like the girl who had been their friend. Her dirty green traveling clothes gone, she was instead dressed in a uniform befitting a fighting officer of the Royal Army. She was going to lead the attack on the Fire Nation with a special team of Earthbenders under her charge.

_It's a suicide mission, _Aang thought darkly_, and she knows it, but it was her home that's been under assault for a century, and when she found out that the attack was only going to a diversion, she never hesitated for a moment. She has an Earthbedner's resolve._

"They won't know what hit them, it'll be like a sandstorm," Toph then turned to 'face' Aang, but as usual kept her head down. "You give the Fire Lord one in the face for me; you got that twinkle-toes?"

"It's a deal." Aang replied, giving a final bow to his former teacher. _Sandstorm_.

Katara and Toph said their goodbyes and soon they were leaving their friend and the massive fleet behind. As Appa climbed into the sky, they punched a hole in the clouds and were alone.

As Sokka struggled to get the armor plate he and Toph made secure under his tunic, Aang floated up from the nape of Appa's neck and sat down next to Katara.

"I never said anything about it, did I?" He asked the Waterbender.

"About what?"

"About getting me out of that iceberg. If it wasn't for you I'd still be in there." There was a long moment before Aang spoke again, "If you knew then what you know now, that I am destined to wipe out the Four Nations, would you have left me there?"

Katara rubbed the blue stone attached to her necklace, "Aang…I…"

"Don't worry about it, never mind," Aang cut her off, afraid knowing what she was thinking.

"No Aang. I would not have left you there. I can't believe that destiny would force you to do such a thing. The Avatar might think he has to, but you are also Aang, the most generous, caring person I know. I believe in _you_, not the Avatar, and so does my brother. So does Toph, Master Pakku, the Earth King, Suki, Yue, Haru, King Bumi, Jet, Than, Ying, little Hope," at the sound of all the names, Momo swept down out of the sky and landed in front of them and began hop up and down, "even Momo here. Everyone whose lives you've touched, you've made better, and that has to count for something."

Karat put her arm around Aang and held him close, "Thanks, Katara."

"No problem." She replied.

"Awwwww…" Sokka said sarcastically.

Katara snapped at him with water from her pouch, leaving a red mark on his head. They all began to laugh.

Their encounter with Prince Zuko on Crescent Island was short. Aang took a short look around the island before they left; the volcano that erupted when they were all there on the Winter Solstice was now only a smoldering pile of freshly cooled liquid rock. Aang found what he needed there, both physically and spiritually, and they left.

The flight to the palace featured only a long, wordless conversation between Katara and Zuko, of which Aang was only partially aware of. His mind was elsewhere. _Ruko, _he thought_, I can feel him waiting for me._

An hour later they were on the grounds of the Fire Palace.

"Now who is left?" Zuko's sister, Princess Azula, bitterly sniped. Sokka had just left, going after Suki who was imprisoned in the palace. Aang stood, staff at the ready with Katara and Zuko, "Ah yes, the Avatar! My father is on the palace roof, waiting for you. I would not dare to deny him the privilege of killing you."

Aang looked down, and whispered, "Goodbye Katara." He flipped his staff around and tapped it on the ground, releasing its wings. One step and he was off, soaring into the sky sharply to reach the top of the palace. He thought he heard the first sounds of a fight behind him, but dared not look back_. I'm can't help them now, I have to focus on what's ahead of me._

Aang was barely up on the edge of the palace roof when the wind powering his glider gave out. _The palace is tall, _he thought_, like the walls of the Earth Kingdom capitol._ The roof was square, and made of a hardwood. At each corner a red spire rose over twenty feet further. The roof had no other feature other then a shirtless man sitting cross-legged facing away from Aang, towards the sun, which hung red in the sky like a warning.

"Avatar," he said, his voice was of barely concealed menace, "I'm glad you are here. Today just wouldn't have been the same without you." The Fire Lord neither stood nor turned to look at Aang.

_What do I do now? _Aang thought_, ask him to surrender? That's crazy; do I attack him now, while his back is turned? I mean he does deserve it. This isn't right, I was expecting something else._

"Confused, child? I understand, you were expecting a monster, I would have too. We are a lot alike after all."

"We are not!"

"We are only doing what we feel we have to, you and I, and it puts us in conflict. I don't hate you, if that is what you are worried about. Kings and Avatars and been allies from the beginning. We know what it means to wield power, and to be responsible for the lives of people. It is a terrible burden isn't it?"

_It is, _Aang thought_. No! What am I doing agreeing with him?_

"We should let it bring us together. You and I should be friends."

Aang had had enough; he got into his fighting stance, and felt the air swirl around him, howling in his ears. "No! I have friends, and they are nothing like you, and neither am I! Now face me or I will blow you off of this roof!"

"Very well, but only because you asked," with that the Fire Lord began to rise off of the roof, turn and drop his legs under him. Aang felt an intense wave of heat come off his body, making the air between them wave.

The Fire Lord began moving, Aang looked at him through the mirage, _I can't tell what he's doing, but he's not coming after me…lighting! I'm only going to have one chance to stop it, this had better work._ Aang pulled the handful of sand that he picked up on Crescent Island out of his pocket and began to use his staff to swirl it in the air in front of him.

The lighting struck a moment later. Aang could feel the cold fire make every hair on his arms stand up, but he could see the cloud of sand absorb the blow. Blue light flickered between individual grains a hundred times a second, and when Aang blew the cloud apart with a gust of wind he knew the danger had passed. _How's that for mad genius, Bumi?_ He thought, remembering the peculiar lessons of his old, and oldest, friend.

The Fire Lord looked stunned for a moment, and a moment was all that Aang needed. _If I get close to him, he won't have time to shoot lighting again_. The Avatar dashed forwards with a gust of air at his back, and stopped just short of the Fire Lord, transferring his momentum into double open-palmed strike of wind and muscle that blew his opponent backwards.

Ozai, the Fire Lord, tumbled back, but was able to get one hand on the hardwood roof while upside-down and quickly righted himself. He sent an arc of white hot flame out horizontally that Aang had to vault up and over with his staff to avoid. Aang floated back down behind Ozai, and stayed behind him as he tried to turn around and face the Avatar. Aang was about to jab his staff at the back of his opponent's neck, when Ozai took a quick step forward and kicked back with his left leg, shooting blast of white fire backwards. Aang quickly spun his staff in front of him to negate the fire, but felt the hair on the back of his hands singe off.

The Fire Lord, now able to turn around, went into a crouch and sent a wave of fire outwards with a sweep of his leg, igniting even the dense, lacquered wood of the palace roof. Aang hopped up, kicked off one the nearby spires, straightened his body and began to spin. Twisting, and with his fists closed, he struck Ozai in the chest, knocking him off balance. Again Ozai didn't collide with the surface of the roof, but was able to break his fall and return to the cross-legged sitting position he started in.

After his attack, Aang rolled up to a standing position, holing his staff behind his back with his left hand, and reaching out with his right.

"Very impressive, Avatar," Ozai said, not even out of breath, "combat with an Airbender is a rare, or should I say _unique_, treat. Tell me, however, where are your other impressive abilities? I am especially curious to see the color of your fire."

"I don't need anything else to beat you," Aang lied.

"Don't need, or can't do?"

Aang felt an out of place chill run up his spine.

"Yes, I am aware of your shortcomings, and it has put a damper on the excitement I long expected today. Not getting along with your elders is a habit of yours, isn't it?"

"You know nothing!" Aang shouted, enraged.

"I know more then you think, the world of the spirits is not your exclusive territory. I know what you intend to do and I know you do not want to do it. So even though I don't need to, I am willing to bargain with you."

"Shut up, I am through talking to you!" Aang charged forward only to be blocked by a wall of flame that sprung out of nowhere from the slightest movement of Ozai's hand.

"Now, now, here me out. You let me bring order to this world; a much safer alternative to 'balance' is it not? I will find a Waterbender for you, and you can spend another hundred years hiding in a block of ice!" The Fire Lord began to laugh.

Aang spun around once, creating a huge Air Scooter around himself, and leaned forward to propel himself towards Ozai at an amazing speed. Aang reached out his hand, intending to crush his enemy's face, but just before he struck, Ozai grabbed Aang's wrist with his right hand, his elbow with his left, and flipped the Avatar over his back effortlessly.

Aang landed hard on the roof of the palace, tasting blood in the back of his mouth. _He's so fast_, Aang thought as he staggered back to his feet. Ozai was back on his feet again as well, and began shooting balls of flame from both fists at an incredible pace. Aang dashed around the rooftop dodging, but with no place to hide, eventually he went over the edge.

The Avatar hung onto the lip of the roof with one hand, and to his staff with the other. _He's coming, get ready_, he told himself. The instant Ozai's face showed over the edge, Aang flipped the staff in his hand and swung it up at the Fire Lord, catching him alongside of his face, staggering him backwards. Summoning an updraft, Aang floated back onto solid footing.

Aang had drawn a line of blood vertically along the Fire Lord's face, who touched his wound and laughed at the sight of his blood.

Ozai then summoned a ring of flames around Aang with a stomp of his foot. The oppressive heat struck Aang from all sides, and as the Fire Lord closed his hands the ring drew inward, towards the Avatar's body. Aang pushed back with a sphere of air on all sides, but felt himself weaken as he watched the Fire Lord begin to laugh.Soon the flames were mere inches from his body, and Aang was all but exhausted. _No! It can't end like this!_

Suddenly a massive gust of air put out the fire and knocked both combatants off their feet. "Appa!" Aang yelled, as the massive Sky Bison drew his tail back up to generate another gale, this time aimed directly at the Fire Lord.

But Ozai was ready this time and launched a spear of white flame at Appa which struck him in the side and sent him crashing though one of the spires and off the side of the roof.

"NO!" Aang yelled, as he watched his friend disappear from view. Enraged, Aang put a gust of wind behind the broken spire point that lay near the spot where Appa disappeared and launched it at the Fire Lord.

Ozai tried to summon a dome of flame to protect himself, but it was too late, the point dug into his chest and flung him across the roof, impaling him on the spire in the far corner. Blood dribbled from his chest and mouth.

"APPA!" Aang yelled, running to the edge to see what happened to his friend, but by then enough of the palace had caught fire that he could not see to the ground. Then, without warning, the sky grew very bright and he looked up to see the flaming shape of Sozin's comet burning low in the sky like a second sun. Turning to look back at the body of the Fire Lord, Aang saw that he wasn't there.

Ozai was instead levitating above the center of the roof, drawing power from the comet. The spire point in his chest burnt away, leaving a raging fire where the hole had been. The fire soon consumed his whole body, but instead of dying he began to grow larger and larger until there was no room on the roof for Aang to stand, and with a tap of his staff he glided off the roof and away from the Fire Lord, now transformed into an embodiment of flame itself, and the palace that they had been standing on became a massive pyre.

Aang was in shock as he flittered around the Fire Lord like a moth. What was once a man was now a massive beast whose every movement scorched the landscape. He swept his massive arms at Aang again and again and each time the Avatar barely maneuvered out of the way. _What am I going to do? Katara, Sokka, Toph, the Royal Army, even Zuko, he'll kill everyone if I don't stop him! Airbending alone can't help here. I need…_

"Aang." A voice called in his head.

_Ruko_.

"It is time, Aang. Join me and you can stop Ozai."

_And what? Have me kill everyone instead of him?_

"There is a difference between a balanced world and a dead one."

_I won't do it. I won't help you kill everyone I care about!_

"So be it. I will not be saddened when your light is snuffed out."

_I don't care what you think, I…wait…snuffed out…the candle succumbs to the teacup!_

Aang unhooked his feet form the back of his glider and swung himself up and past the front until he was standing along the spine of the staff, one foot in front of the other. He shifted his weight until he was pointed directly at Ozai and, after clasping his hands tightly, began to pull them apart slowly.

With that, a sound unlike any that anyone had ever heard came from the air around the Fire Lord. Aang was tearing the sky apart. Air rushed away from the creature to be replaced with nothingness. An empty space where fire could not live. Ozai struggled to escape the pocket of void, but without air to sustain his fire, he began to fade and shrink, the exit always just past his ever shorting grasp.

In a moment the fire was extinguished and Ozai had disappeared into the abyss. The Fire Lord was no more.

Aang released the air and it rushed back into the emptiness with a thunderous cacophony. The effort exhausted him and his vision went black.

When Aang opened his eyes he was back in the Spirit World, being carried by the neck up the line of dark clouds and into the ether above by Ruko. Once there, they both took on bodies of pure energy, and Aang struggled to pull himself free of the old Avatar's grasp.

"I want to show you something, Aang" with an extra squeeze of Aang's throat, Ruko summoned an image of Aang floating high over the ruins of the Fire Nation Royal Palace, surround by a sphere of white light. "I have restored your Avatar powers, and you now have the comet's power as well. Everything we need to bring balance to the world. Now surrender yourself to me!"

"Never…" Aang choked out, focusing on trying to break Ruko's grasp and return to his body. He pulled and pulled at his hands with no effect.

"Foolish child, you know nothing. Listen to me, I can teach you what it means to be the bridge between the worlds of the physical and the spirit.

_The spirit_, Aang thought. He stopped his attempt to physically break Ruko's grasp and instead he reached inside himself and focused on the image of himself in his mind. In a moment he was back there, holding the power of the comet and the Avatar Spirit within.

"Impressive, boy" Ruko sounded in his head.

_You don't just need the comet to enact your plan, you need me to use the Avatar Spirit, and in that I will stop you. _Aang began to levitate higher and higher until he was at the edge of the known sky. Sozin's comet was as close to him as he could get and Aang pulled more and more power from it until the celestial body was all but drained.

He then tuned back towards the ground, and flew downwards at top speed.

"What are you doing?" Ruko shouted.

Aang closed his eyes, and in a flash was back in the Spirit World. This time, his empowered spectral from was enormous. He got the drop on Ruko and held him, not physically, but within a barrier of energy between two outstretched hands.

"Apart from all the lies you told me," Aang spoke with the voice of the Avatar, "there was one truth. The one you needed me to know. That if an Avatar dies in the Avatar State, the cycle will be broken and the Avatar Spirit lost."

"NO!"

"Yes. Our time is over, Ruko. I will not allow you to corrupt the Avatar Spirit or destroy either world, even if it means sacrificing my own life."

Aang's body raced downward, faster and faster, now just moments from impact. Roku's spirit lashed out from within its prison, straining to escape and detach the Avatar Spirit from Aang before it was too late.

There was a flash of light, and Aang hit the ground with craterous force. He lay in the smoldering hole he created and reached out one last time with his mind.

He summoned the spirits of Katara, Sokka, Toph and Zuko, who appeared in front of him, uninjured.

"The war is over, the Fire Lord is gone." He spoke softly, his form fading quickly

"Aang! No! You can't…" Katara cried.

"I'm sorry I won't be there with you anymore, but for now Ruko's been stopped. There will be peace."

"Aang," Sokka, sniffled out, and he and Toph began to cry. Zuko hung his head and turned away, his unexpected sadness overwhelming his pride.

"My friends. I am happy I was able to meet all of you. Please don't be sad, it was always my dream to bring hope to the world, and allow others to achieve their dreams as well. Now there will be time for that, for everybody. I love you all. Goodbye."

As Aang felt a cold creeping darkness overtake him, he remembered his home, its tranquility and the smiling faces of his people. Then he was gone.

br 

**Eleven Years After Cometfall**

Sokka, the Father

"Hey! Stay out of the deep water; you know what lives out there!" Sokka, near a state of panic, yelled at his two daughters as a flock of pidgondoves flew over the pristine beach of Kyoshi Island.

"Yeah, somehow I'm not going to see a _massive black sea monster_ coming at me. You worry too much," His elder daughter, Yue, aged seven, snapped back sarcastically, flipping her black hair.

"Worry too much!" Said his little girl, Aangi, aged four and with a shock of red hair like her mother. She had taken to mimicking her older sister, which the whole family thought was hilarious.

"Yeah, _Dad_, you need to relax!" Their mother Suki laughed while lounging on the beach.

"You think its funny now, but when the Unagi eats you, don't come cryin' to me!" Sokka tuned his back on the girls and collapsed face down on the wide beach mat next to his wife, "Why don't they listen to me?" He complained, his voice stifled by the ground.

"Because they're just like you," Suki laughed, tossing nuts up into the sky for Momo to catch.

Down on the waterline, Yue idly waved her arm and split the waves in front of her to protect the rudimentary sand pagoda that Aangi was building without her hands. The sisters smiled at each other at another successful attempt to hide their powers from their parents.

**Thirteen Years After Cometfall**

Katara, the Hermit

After the Fire Lord's defeat and Aang's death, Katara set about using her bending to heal as many of the war's casualties that she could, but the one wound she could not cure was the one she caused herself. She could never forgive herself for killing Azula, even in the heat of battle and with her own and others lives at stake. She retuned to the South Pole to live in seclusion, waiting for a day she knew was going to come for over a decade.

She heard the soft grunting sounds grow louder and louder for some time now. _She's getting closer_, Katara thought, _I'd better get ready_. Katara pulled her heavy robes around her and sat down next to her igloo's small fire pit. _Maybe I moved a bit too high_, she thought, thinking of the hundred foot tall ice mesa she lifted her house up on last week. Just then she saw the small girl pull herself up to the top. She lay there on the edge for about five minutes, catching her breath, before crawling into the igloo.

She sat opposite Katara on the far side of the fire pit and began to speak, "Master Katara, I have traveled here from the North Pole to learn from you. My name is Izanami, and I am…"

"I know who you are, Avatar," Katara said, "I have been expecting you."

"You have?"

"Yes. Now tell me, have you come here to learn how to fight?"

The girl was quiet for a long time, "I have come here to learn about the water, and I am ready to be taught by its master." She bowed low, her forehead on the ground.

"Good answer." Katara stood and with a wave of her arms, turned her home into water, and sprayed it out in all directions leaving only herself, the young Avatar, and a packed bag with a bed roll tucked into its straps. "Avatar! I will teach you about the water, and together we will pickup the pieces of a shattered world."

"Together?" She asked.

"Yes, you will not be the first Avatar I have traveled with, and neither will you be his," with that Katara pulled a white object out of her pocket and blew into it. After a moment, Appa landed beside the pair, "Are you ready to start your journey, Izanami?"

"Yes, Master Katara." She said, her young face alight with excitement.

"Then let's go."

**Fifteen Years After Cometfall**

Toph, the General

High General Toph gripped her iron walking stick with her stone hand and got up from her chair in the War Room. She walked with deliberate pace out of the palace and into the gardens. She took a deep breath and enjoyed the smell of the exotic plants that grew there.

It had been fifteen years since the end of the war, when a bomb exploded at her feet and destroyed her right arm and leg. It would have been much worse if her unconscious form was not caught in mid air by the sandbending Ghashiun. She healed quickly with the aid of the Water Tribe medic and was soon back in service putting down belligerent Fire Nation remnants and settling land disputes between repatriated Earth Kingdom citizens.

Her injuries, while not affecting her superior Earthbending skills, and robbed her of her Metalbending. Scholars said her essential equilibrium was thrown off by the injury, philosophers speculated that she was only gifted with the power to help the Avatar. Ether way, their fascination with Toph the person has waned, and for that she was grateful.

Toph felt a set of familiar steps approaching, "Major Ghashiun, report."

Ghashiun had long ago gotten over the General's disconcerting powers of sightless observation. "Yes ma'am. It's the Dai Li, reports of their activities in the Outer Ring have increased."

_The Dai Li, _Toph thought_, after the end of the war, they went underground and become a criminal enterprise…more so, "_Dispatch squad four to shake down the local snitches, if they are up to something I want to know it."

"Yes ma'am."

"And it's _sir_ not _ma'am_, I'm not your mother. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir, sorry, sir." He said with a smile, turned and left.

General Toph grinned wide, picked up her walking stick, curled it into a circle and then straightened it; _I'll make him pay for that…later._

**Sixteen Years After Cometfall**

Zuko, the Fire Lord

"You tell the nobles that there is no need to begin fighting! There is noting to be gained by further destruction! I want to meet them here, tomorrow! Now get out of my sight!" Fire Lord Zuko dismissed the last of his seven chancellors that had all followed him from the throne room all the way back to his bedroom. He slid the door open, and ducked inside, slamming the door closed behind him and hanging his head in frustration.

_What is wrong with my people? Why can't they stop fighting_? He yelled at himself.

"I see that temper hasn't changed." A voice called out from near the open patio door.

"Who's there?" Zuko yelled, igniting his palms and lighting the room.

"An old…friend," Katara said, stepping out of the darkness.

"You."

"Yes, me. It's been a long time."

"Yes, it has." There was an uncomfortably long silence, "I've heard your traveling with the new Avatar."

"Yes, Izanami is turning out to be just what this world needs right now, and that's kind of why I came…we want to help. This wordless detente between…our peoples has gone on for too long. If there is going to be a lasting peace we need to work together."

Zuko took a step forward. "Work together, you and me?"

"Yes…you and me…your people and my people." It was Katara's turn to step forward.

"Your right, we've been apart for too long," Zuko said softly.

"Far too long."

Zuko extinguished his flames, and the room went dark.

The End


End file.
